A New Frontier
by Historyman 14
Summary: In a world without the Man of Steel, the Dark Knight, and the Princess of Themyscira, new heroes will rise as villains plot for power.
1. Chapter 1

**(OOC: Hello everyone. It's Historyman again. It been a long time, but I have a great work to give to the world. This is a** **DCU Collaborative by me, Randomideaguy, ajm, and theg*ddam*hoi2fan of Alternate History Discussion. The question has been ask: A world with the Trinity, what would it look like? Well, this story is all about one way of going about it. And now sit back, like, and review this work of art of the DC world.**

 **BTW: I do not own anything of DC. Just posting this story.)**

 **Somewhere**...

"Have you done it?"

"Yes, the timeline has been altered. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are no longer a threat to us."

"Really, it's amazing we've never done this before. Such an elegant solution."

"Occam's Razor is certainly in effect here, yes. Now our plans will proceed?"

"Certainly. Now no one can stop us."

 **Jump City Police Department, New Timeline  
**  
"Hello Miss, what brings you here today?" Officer Grant leaned down towards the statuesque blonde with fire in her eyes and dirt in her face. She had already been through about half of the tests involved, and indeed it sounded like she had done well.

"I'm here to join the JCPD, Officer Grant." She replied, matter-of-factly. He glanced down at his name-tag, remembering that it was there. This woman looked familiar. Grant grinned at her - this was his part of the test.

"I know that. I mean _why_? Why would you come here after what happened to your father?" Grant asked. That got a glare from the woman. She looked different after all these years, but Ted Grant couldn't forget Laurel Lance, the daughter of his late partner.

"I'm here because of him, because I want to make a difference. Be a hero, just like him." Laurel replied, her eyes steely. Grant sighed, looking down at the ground.

"Was the beat not exciting enough for you in Gotham?" He asked, a little irritated himself as he stalked around her. Laurel sighed.

"I just want to make a difference. There's not much of a difference to be made in Gotham." Laurel replied.

"So you found Gotham boring? Not enough criminals to beat down? Or not enough vigilantes?" Ted Grant asked, narrowing his eyes at Laurel, "Quentin's daughter or no, the people in my unit are not here for some cheap thrills. This is not a place for adrenaline junkies or the weak willed. And it's not for people to fulfill their personal vendetta against masked vigilantes."

"Then give me the test. I know I can pass." Laurel said simply, confidently as she stared right into Grant's face. He sighed, walking to the edge of the room and removing his coat. He turned to face her, arms wide.

"Your final test then, is to beat me in a fight." Ted said. Laurel paused only for a moment, but it was enough for him to see the fear - Laurel knew Ted was once the greatest boxer in the world, and that was before he started heading up SWAT in Jump City. Still, she flew at him with all the fury she could muster; and that was enough for Ted to know she could make it.

But he wouldn't make it easy for her. Meanwhile...

 **Iceberg Lounge, Jump City  
**  
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Mr. Luthor." Oliver Queen said to the scrawny red-headed kid across the table. Though they were both trust fund kids, they couldn't look more different. Lex was thin, gaunt and flushed. His face dotted with freckles and his eyes constantly shifting about. His clothes looked tattered, worn like an afterthought.

"The pleasure is mine, Mr. Queen. It's not often I get to find new ways to displease my father." Lex responded, giving Oliver an awkward smile which he did not return. For his part, Oliver was the opposite of Lex. His eyes cold, his figure large and imposing. He was the subject of lots of rumors after he disappeared on an island some years ago. The truth was far worse than what anyone could imagine.

"So, I will cut to the chase. I am staging a hostile takeover of your father's company. You have reached out to me with an offer to help. I am willing to compensate you for your assistance. I'm aware that you pride your work in the Special Technologies sub-divison at LuthorCorp. It is woefully underfunded." Oliver Queen explained, briefly pausing to let the implication hang in the air.

"And a way to keep me out of the way." Lex suggested, mainly talking to himself. Oliver ignored him.

"Queen Consolidated has long been a champion of advanced technologies. I know that you have disliked your father's foray in the weapons industry. Indeed, my mother has not been very trusting of accepting his help on behalf of the Senate, either. I do have one condition, though -" Queen explained.

"You don't want me leading the company." Lex looked directly at Queen now, and Oliver leaned back a little surprised. Maybe a little bit of the father had passed to the son after all.

"You understand, with the rumors..." Queen implied.

"Yes, I get it. Just leave me with my inventions and you can have the bank accounts." Lex replied. Queen nodded, smiling for the first time. He held out his hand.

"Then we have a deal?" Queen asked. Lex grabbed his hand, shaking heartily.

"Let's put my dad in jail."

Across the bar in the private section, a different sort of meeting was taking place.

"Tell me where he is!" The brunette woman snarled as she held the fat mobster up against the wall with one arm. Oswald Cobblepot sputtered, looking frantically between Helena Bertinelli and her bodyguard Sal.

"Don't look for sympathy from me." Sal said with a smirk as Helena let go of Cobblepot, allowing his mass to drop to the floor. He heaved in a few breathes, looking up terrified as Helena towered over him.

"Cassamento, now!" Helena said, and Cobblepot nodded - he didn't need any more convincing.

"Anything for an old friend." Cobblepot sputtered as he grabbed his phone from his pocket. Sal chuckled, shaking his head.

"Yeah, an old friend whose family you sold out." Helena said, her eyes fiery. Cobblepot turned his phone towards Helena, with a location highlighted. Helena took one look at the information and then tossed the phone back onto Cobblepot's lap, where he was still catching his breath.

"If I find out you're lying to me, we'll come back here and kill you." Helena said, turning and walking away.

"That certainly won't please Mr. Grayson." Cobblepot coughed out. Helena paused at the door.

"You're friends with that clown? Him and his freaks are not a problem for me." Helena said flippantly. Cobblepot chuckled now.

"You'd be surprised. Us Gotham boys stick together." Cobblepot said. Helena shook her head.

"I'm sure you do." And she left. Elsewhere...

 **LexCorp Tower, Jump City  
**  
"Oh, quiet you!" Lionel said at the horrid green creature in the glass box, "MERCY, turn on the heater for our guest." He said. Suddenly the box turned black and there were muffled screeches. He didn't shutter, but simply moved past the box.

"Today's not your day." Lionel said as he reached into a metallic box and grabbed what appeared to be a simple ring. But upon closer inspection there was a faint green glow. He turned over the small thing in his hands, briefly examining the lantern shaped symbol at the center of it. He then placed it in his pocket, turned and walked out of the room and into a nearby express elevator.

It carried him upwards, through a few hundred feet of solid rock and steel to the basement of his tower which served as the headquarters for his company. He was met at the door by his bodyguard, who gave him a quick nod. They exited through a back way, heading out towards the company garage as multiple cars awaited outside. Lionel smiled as he saw the large group of men with guns and suits surrounding a few vehicles.

"Santo! It's good to see you." Lionel said, walking towards the man standing at the center of the group. A heavyset Italian man approached him and the two shook hands.

"Lionel. I had begun to thought you had forgotten about us." Santo replied, nodding at the bald-headed head of LuthorCorp. Lionel shook his head, reaching into his pocket and fiddling with the ring.

"I don't forget anything, Santo. I was merely keeping my head down for a bit." Lionel responded as he produced the ring from his pocket. Santo didn't react.

"A small package for a large price." Santo said simply. He was wondering what the catch was. Lionel smiled.

"A large price for discretion. You know the rules, Santo." Lionel said as Santo gently took the ring from his hand and turned it over carefully in his hand. He shrugged, pocketing the ring simply.

"Fair enough. I know when not to look a gift horse in the mouth." Santo said. Lionel smiled and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Atta boy. Now, I need you to take this. To the docks. A man named Ivo will meet you there, he'll transport that ring elsewhere. You'll find that half the cash is already in your bank account. The rest will come when Ivo confirms that he got the ring." Lionel explained the plan quickly. He was becoming antsy already - he didn't like to spend too much time in such an obviously suspicious setting.

Santo nodded quickly, already bored. It seemed simple, like all of the other drops Lionel had paid him to do under the radar over the years. It didn't matter to him. Soon he and his gang, colloquially known as the Cassamento Syndicate, got in their cars and rolled out. From nearby, Officers Grant and Lance watched quietly from their car.

"That's interesting." Laurel said, sipping her coffee. Grant stared after the departing gang, silent. Soon his car followed after. Above them on the rooftops, a figure also moved silently in the shadows. Well, right until they crashed into another figure who had also been silently hiding.

"Who the hell are you?" Green Arrow and the Huntress asked simultaneously. They had both brandished their weapons - clearly finding a masked person hiding on a roof must be crazy and dangerous. And neither of them found that thought ironic.

"You first!" The Huntress demanded.

"I'm tracking Luthor's dealings so I can put him behind bars." Green Arrow admitted.

"And I'm trying to bring down Cassamento's Syndicate." Huntress replied. They both turned and looked as the Cassamento Syndicate's convoy was quickly slipping away. The Huntress holstered her knife. After a moment, Green Arrow reluctantly did the same.

"Maybe we can work together, then?" The Green Arrow suggested with a silent smile. The Huntress stared at him for a moment, before sighing.

"Whatever, as long as you stay out of my way." She replied.

"How can I trust you?" The Green Arrow asked as the Huntress was already stalking to the edge of the roof.

"You can't." The Huntress said, and soon she was off. The Green Arrow followed in hot pursuit. It didn't take them a long time to catch up to the convoy. They simultaneously brandished their weapons and fired an arrow at the lead tire of the convoy. The arrows collided and bounced off of each other, causing the heroes to look at each other and scowl.

Unfortunately they didn't go unnoticed, and someone from one of the middle vehicles stuck a machine gun out of the window and unloaded at the rooftop where the arrows had come from. Green Arrow and Huntress dove away. Down below, Laurel brandished her gun in the hidden police car, but Ted grabbed her hand.

"We're not dying for a couple of vigilantes, we're here to get evidence. Stay quiet." Ted told her, his eyes focused closely on the road ahead as he tailed the Cassamento convoy. Soon the group of cars was already at the docks and the aforementioned vigilantes found themselves hiding on top of a group of boxes.

"Alright, we're just going to keep getting in each other's way without a game plan." Green Arrow suggested, crouched next to her.

"Then leave already." Huntress replied, looking through a pair of binoculars. Green Arrow shook his head.

"Not a chance. Besides, there's too many men for you to take on by yourself." Green Arrow said.

"You want to bet?" Huntress set the binoculars down and looked at Green Arrow. She sighed.

"Fine. Let's do this." She said.

For their part, Ted and Laurel parked quite a safe distance away from the group where it wasn't conspicuous and they were now silently watching as a ship floated into harbor.

"Stay sharp. I'm sure those freaks in masks are still on our tail." Santo Cassamento said as he stepped out of his car. He held the ring quietly in his hands as the ship came to port right in front of them and behind him his men formed a protective ring. Lots of firepower here, but that's just what Lionel had ordered. Typically this didn't happen and Santo had simply thought Lionel was a paranoid old billionaire. It seems this time he was justified in hiring Santo to work for him.

Professor Ivo stepped off of the ship, a normal, dapper looking middle aged man in a gray suit. Santo walked forward to hand him the ring. That's when the shots rang out - a sniper rifle cut right through Santo's midsection and the same bullet ripped through Professor Ivo's leg. Meanwhile, the two vigilantes were working their way at the edges of the Cassamento's perimeter.

"Who the hell has a sniper rifle!?" Green Arrow asked incredulously as he slammed a goon's head into a nearby car, rolled away from bullet fire, and buried an arrow in a nearby assailant. Huntress didn't seem to be listening as she ducked, weaved, and dodged several assailants. She broke bones and put them all on the ground, her eyes frantic as she focused on Santo Cassamento.

"No one can kill that bastard but me!" She said as she rushed away from the now half-broken perimeter leaving the Green Arrow to his own devices. The goons were quick to turn their collective fire on him, and he was forced to take cover with a scowl. As Huntress ran towards the downed Cassamento, another figure also approached with a sniper rifle on their back and a hood over their head. Huntress dove at them, screaming as they both fell to the ground.

Over by the ship, Cassamento breathed helplessly as he clutched his chest while Ivo began dragging himself back towards his ship with the ring clutched desperately in his hand. Nearby Huntress rained down blows at the masked assassin, whose hood fell down to reveal a strong-jawed black man.

"No one takes this moment away from me!" She said, but the man responded quickly, clocking her in the jaw and knocking her off. He jumped onto his feet, sprinting towards the ship when an arrow planted itself in his back and knocking him back to the ground. The Green Arrow sprinted from his spot atop the unconscious bodies of half of the Cassamento Syndicate as he approached the sniper.

"Stop interfering!" The man yelled, grabbing an object from his pocket. The Green Arrow's vision was suddenly filled with light and he was blinded. He heard the sounds of the sniper rifle going off a few more times, and also the sound of it bouncing helplessly off the hull of the ship as it got farther and farther away. By the time his vision recovered, two police officers were approaching behind him.

"Hands up!" One of them said.

 _This is quite possibly the worst night of my life_. Green Arrow thought. He turned quickly, firing off an arrow that knocked the gun out of one of the officers hands. The other unloaded on him as he leaped and rolled away as quick as his adrenaline could bring him, back towards where he saw the Huntress sprinting away from the scene as well.

Ted Grant fired after him a few more times, but quickly realized it was useless. He turned to Laurel as the two looked at the various bodies all around them. The chaos they had just witnessed was amazing, simply put. They approached Santo Cassamento quietly as he glared at them.

"Will he live?" Laurel asked.

"Unfortunately." Ted responded.

Farther away, the Green Arrow finally caught up with Huntress.

"Leave me alone! You've already ruined enough." Huntress exclaimed. The Green Arrow held up his hands.

"You want to catch him, right?" He said. Huntress was quiet for a second before nodding carefully. She produced something metallic from her pocket.

"The idiot had this around his neck. I ripped it off." She explained. The Green Arrow nodded.

"That's wonderful. I have someone who can use that to track him." The Green Arrow explained. Huntress scoffed.

"With a dog tag?" She asked. Green Arrow nodded.

"Yeah. We can work together." Green Arrow said, Huntress rolled her eyes, handed him the dog tag and folded her arms. The Green Arrow looked at it.

"Now lets find out who you are, Sergeant John Stewart."


	2. Chapter 1 Part 2

**The Arrowcave, Jump City  
**  
"You don't usually bring girls home." Barbara Gordon remarked dryly over the rim of her glasses as Oliver and Helena stepped off of the elevator at the far end of Oliver's lair. Oliver remained stone faced as he set down his bow and arrow and removed his hood. Helena stood their awkwardly while Oliver handed Barbara the dog tag. Finally she reluctantly removed her cowl. Barbara looked between the dog tag and Helena, before nodding.

"Hmm. Makes sense." Barbara said and she swiveled back to her computer and began typing furiously. Oliver leaned against the side of the desk, watching her work.

"What makes sense?" Helena asked, intrigued as she slowly approached the duo. Barbara shrugged.

"You're Helena Bertinelli. Makes sense why you would go after Cassamento after what he did. The rumor mill said you were in protective custody." Barbara explained without looking at Helena, who was scowling.

"I hope this is good." She said with a sigh.

 **Big Belly Burger, Jump City  
**  
"Thanks for agreeing to meet us on such short notice." Ted Grant said as he sat down across from the red haired military man. Colonel Jacob Kane smiled.

"Anything for old Wildcat." Jacob Kane replied, sipping calmly at his coffee.

"Yeah, I'm sure the free autograph helped." Ted said in response, to which Kane laughed.

"Well, my daughter is a huge fan of yours. Or at least she was when she was younger." Kane replied.

"Most people are until they get to know me." Ted said sarcastically. Ted leaned forward.

"But I'm not here to talk shop with you, Jacob." Ted said. Kane leaned back, his face suddenly serious.

"Yes, I thought as much. How can I help you?" Jacob asked.

"You heard about the gang that went down at the docks?"

"Yeah, I heard it was the vigilante."

"Vigilantes." Ted corrected him, "And one of them was packing heat. Military grade weaponry."

There was a tense silence following that as Jacob calculated. Ted took the opportunity to continue.

"Now some guy with a bow and arrow is one thing, but once people start slinging government level sniper rifles from the rooftops we're talking something totally different." Ted said as Jacob nodded along.

"Yeah, I know your concern. Unfortunately I have nothing to offer you. As far as I know, nothing like that has gone missing recently. Something of that caliber would definitely be flagged, you understand." Jacob explained, "Of course I can give you what we have, but all of it is a couple of years old by now and obviously we don't know who did it or they would be behind bars by now. But I can pass along when, where, and what went missing. Hopefully it can help your case."

"That would be great. Pass it along to my office, if you would. Thank you, Colonel." Ted said as he stood up and shook Jacob's hand. He turned and headed towards the door where Laurel was waiting impatiently. Jacob sat there for a moment before calmly brandishing his phone and dialing a private number.

"Secretary Trevor? It's Kane."

"Do you have more information on Stewart?"

"Yes, it looks like he's in Jump City."

"Lois isn't going to be happy about that."

"Well you can tell Madame President that I have this situation handled."

"So I'll tell her you have Agent Napier on the case?"

"Napier? He's a bit of a nutjob..."

"He get results. That's what we're concerned about. You said you've got this handled, right?"

"Yes, sir. Stewart will be captured. You have my word." Jacob had barely finished his sentence when the line went dead. He sighed, looking down at his coffee as it seemed to glare back at him. He then picked up his phone again and began dialing field agent Jack Napier. Hopefully he wouldn't regret it.

 **The Amazo, Atlantic Ocean  
**  
"Do you think he got aboard?" Ivo asked his second in command, Mick Rory. The man simply shrugged, taking a slow drag on his cigarette.

"So what if he did? We've got the ring now." Rory suggested. Ivo nodded, seemingly understanding.

"Yes, he would be a good test for Amazo. Just to make sure it works." Ivo said as he approached a nearby machine. Elsewhere on the shop, John Stewart launched himself onto the deck from where he had been hanging onto the side for many miles. He pulled a small object out of his pocket and activated the receiver.

 **Jump City General Hospital  
**  
Cassamento slowly came to, having passed out at some point on the docks. He quickly became aware of a hollowness in his chest and remembered that he had been shot. He scowled as his eyes came into focus at his hospital room. He attempted to get up out of his bed, but quickly found that he was handcuffed to it. Santo groaned - typical pigs, locking him up while he was injured. They would take any chance to catch him, even an actual assassination attempt.

"Hey! I want my lawyer!" Santo tried to muster some furor, but the pain in his chest caused him to whimper. He saw a figure approach the door, and someone entered slowly.

"You're not my lawyer." Santo said incredulously as a figure entered the room and approached him bed.

"And you don't have long to live, Mr. Cassamento. Unless you accept my help." They responded. Santo tried to laugh bitterly, but it only turned into a bloody cough.

"What's the catch?"

 **The Arrowcave, Jump City  
**  
"Hmm, multiple years in the USMC before being transferred to a top secret government program. Seems like John got something of an obsession with an ancient artifact known as the Green Lantern, said to be an ancient weapon." Barbara began explaining to the two heroes as listened in.

"I don't give a damn why he did it, I just want to hit him for ruining my chances at catching Cassamento." Helena said petulantly. Barbara scowled at the brunette and Oliver leaned back against the nearby table.

"Do you have any way to catch him?" Oliver asked.

"I was getting to that. I..." Barbara said when something appeared on her screen.

"I'm picking up a strange signal out in the bay." Barbara said. Oliver was already reaching for his bow and arrow.

 **The Amazo, The Atlantic Ocean  
**  
John had thought he was being careful, sneaking around the ship and slowly picking off Rory's men. He was a professional, to be sure. But John was just on another level from these men. What he didn't account for was a giant robot standing there as he turned the corner. He paid the price for his confidence as a metallic hand wrapped around his throat, lifting him into the air. He grabbed at the metal, gasping for air when an arrow flew past his head and landed in a crevice in the robots form. It looked down at the arrow, perplexed that someone would even try such a foolish tactic. Then the arrow exploded, throwing it off balance and causing it to drop Stewart to the ground.

"Took you long enough, Hipp-" John began to say as he turned and saw the same guy from the docks. He groaned in utter disappointment. The brunette woman behind Green Arrow didn't seem too pleased either. Everyone turned to see as Amazo returned to it's feet, eyes glowing red. The trio looked at each other.

"We're all gonna die." John said dryly. All three dove out of the way as laser beams cut past them, cutting through multiple layers of hull.

"This day just keeps getting worse." Green Arrow said as he found himself behind a box. He dove to the ground as moments later the box was sliced in half by a metallic hand. John distracted the robot as he sent several sniper rounds into it's chest, but it did little more than distract the creature.

"You! Try to find Ivo! We'll distract this thing!" John yelled to Huntress who had found herself inexplicably trapped on the other side of Amazo. She glared death at everyone, but she was already on the ship. And she certainly didn't want to fight the giant killer robot. She turned to search the ship.

 **The Command Center  
**  
"Alright, take one more left and you should be there." Oracle's voice came into Huntress's ear. She was adapting surprisingly quickly to following the orders of the redhead on the other side of the line, something that she was not too happy about. Still, it was better than fighting a killer robot. Huntress peaked around a metal corner, spotting Ivo at the ship's wheel. She prepared a throwing star, not willing to waste her time on grandstanding. She launched it, however it did not meet it's target. Instead a bald-headed fellow in black fatigues stepped out into the open, holding up a metal encased wrist and deflecting the blade.

"Oh, joy." Huntress said in response to Mick Rory's sadistic smile.

 **The Main Ship  
**  
"What the hell were you planning on doing!? Talking it down!?" Green Arrow asked John Stewart incredulously as they now found themselves backed up to the end of the ship by the monstrosity that was Amazo. John shook his head as a sound began to rise behind them.

"Nope, I'm just the recon. And it sounds like reinforcements are here!" And with that John tackled Green Arrow to the ground - and not a moment too soon! A winged figure flew through where the two had just been standing, swinging a morningstar and impacting Amazo in the chest and knocking it through a nearby wall.

"Took you long enough!" John said as he got up. Green Arrow stared at the new player, a flying winged woman in a strange get up. His day had gotten slightly better, but a lot more weird. Green Arrow quickly became aware of a sound behind them, and turned once again as Amazo crawled out of the wreckage and tried to launch another volley of laser beams at them. Thankfully the new lady flew past the duo, deflecting the beams and grappling with his metal foe.

"You got anything incendiary in there?" John motioned to Green Arrow's quiver. He nodded quickly, not really questioning anything at this point in favor of destroying this giant metal robot.

"Starfire! Now!" John said after Green Arrow had prepared his arrow. He and John fired simultaneously - Green Arrow with his bow and John with a grenade launcher. Hawkwoman ducked out of the way just in time as Amazo was engulfed in flames, manner times hotter than one would expect but luckily Green Arrow had packed napalm.

"That should loosen him up a bit, lets flank him." John said with an eerie calm. He and Green Arrow strafed to the right side, shooting at Amazo as Hawkwoman closed back in and began pummeling Amazo right in the chest. Oliver upgraded to his armor-piercing arrows with the little motor on the back end for an extra kick. Between that and John's continued fire, it seemed like Amazo was slowing down, if nothing else.

"Alright, one more time." John said as they cleared to the other side of the robot. Green Arrow dutifully loaded up his bow, and the two launched their volley at the same time Hawkwoman unleashed another crushing blow at Amazo. Whoever this lady was, she scared the crap out of Oliver.

Following this latest blow, Amazo was slower than ever, and Green Arrow used it to his advantage. He fired another trick arrow - this one designed to tie up the feet of whomever it was fired at. Amazo faltered for a second and then finally fell as Hawkwoman jumped on top of him and punched him straight through the chest.

"Dear lord!" Green Arrow remarked as Hawkwoman pulled a shining green object out of the creature's chest.

"I've got it!" She remarked. No sooner had they procured victory over the killer robot did the ship turned dramatically sideways, as if someone had leaned on the steering wheel.

"That must be Huntress!" Green Arrow said and he quickly began sprinting towards the Command Center. John and Hawkwoman looked at each other.

"Get the ring out of here!" John said.

"I can survive a ship crash, you can't!" Hawkwoman remarked, but John was already following after Green Arrow. She grunted in frustration, but dutifully flew off to get the ring to a safe spot.

 **Command Center  
**  
By the time Green Arrow and John Stewart reached the Command Center, they had missed a lot of action. Their first sight was of a big gaping hole where the front windows used to be - Ivo was nowhere to be found. There were also bloodstreaks, bullet casings, and various sharp objects everywhere from what must've been a titanic fight. A fight which was just about to end as Oliver and John saw that in the corner of the room Huntress was pinned to the ground by Mick Rory whom had a knife to her throat. They both had various cuts and scars on them and Rory had multiple knives sticking out of what had to have been a bullet-proof vest.

"Stop right there or I gut the lady!" Rory said fiercely as he held a knife to Huntress's throat. Green Arrow held up his hands, ready to negotiate. John reacted a little differently, bringing his sniper rifle to bear and firing without hesitation. Poor Rory never had a chance - his unprotected head blossoming into a splatter on the wall and his body fell limply to the side. Green Arrow turned on him quickly.

"Why the hell would you do that!? She could've been killed!" Green Arrow yelled at John. Huntress jumped to her feet as the ship rocked back and forth, critically damaged from the various fighting that had gone on across the ship.

"I had that!" She added her voice to the fray. John just stared at them.

"Do you have a way off of this thing?" He asked.

 **Elsewhere...  
**  
"I was promised a functional weapon." The large red-skinned creature intoned darkly.

"A mere temporary set-back." The gray haired man next to him said, waving his hand.

"Please, have mercy on me, Master." Professor Ivo, in his sea-soaked clothes, said from his spot where he knelt before the trio. Ares stared at him ruefully.

"Are you sure it is only a temporary set-back, Ra's?" Ares asked. Ra's nodded sagely.

"Of course. The League of Assassins _always_ delivers." Ra's said in response. The two turned their eyes to Ivo, who was groveling on the floor.

"He must be punished for his failure, of course. Diana-" Ares began to command the third person there, a brunette who began to reach for her sword. Ra's placed a hand calmly on hers.

"I hired Ivo. I shall deal with this myself - and with those who have interfered with our plans." Ra's said as he pulled his own sword from it's sheath and unceremoniously lopped off Professor Ivo's head. The room became darkly quiet in an instant, now devoid of his insipid groaning.

"I will hold you to that, Demon's Head." Ares said as he and his second began to slowly retreat the way they came.

"Those heroes will rue the day they crossed Ra's al Ghul!" Ra's promised aloud as he resheathed his sword.


	3. Chapter 2

**The Arrowcave, Jump City  
The Next Day...**

It was mid morning in Jump City, Barbara had just gotten up. She went to the local Big Belly Burger and got her favorite drink with a big belly breakfast egg sandwich. She was lucky it was the weekend or she would have to go into work. Oliverwould probably be asleep in his own room while the guest, Miss Helena Bertinelli slept in the excercise area. She was in the cot Oliver kept for if he had other people here and they needed to sleep.

Helena was sleeping in her underwear, not much room for other clothes under her suit. In her training, Helena had been able to fight many a man before but sadly she was not used to fighting another person like Green Arrow/Oliver Queen. It was was odd when she woke up here. She was used to her apartment in Jump City. She could look at the news feed and see how her actions affected the city at large. She did not have too many sources in the mobs of Jump City but she was still gaining hold here.

"Hey," The voice of Barbara made Helena look at her. "I got you your clothes." "How?" Asked a tired Helena. "How did you get into my apartment?" Helena got up and cleared her throat. "I picked the locks on your door and opened chain with my hands." Barbara smiled. She put a bag of civil clothes next to her. Helena yawned. "Okay?..." Replied a skeptical Helen. Barbara laughed. "I kid, I took your keys." Barbara gave Helena the keys back.

"You're a barrel of laughs. What next a laugh track?" Helena said dryly.

"Don't tempt me."

Helena looked around, "Where's Green Arrow?" "Oliver has a business function he must attend to. Well it's political though Oliver hates politics. He's getting dragged there because Finch is promising the moon to his company."

Senator Finch? She's a major candidate for her party's presidential nomination." Helena replied.  
"

Yeah Oliver is not happy."

"Yeah I guess his mother wants to get a nice slot in the next White House." Helena huffed.

Barbara nodded quietly at the Italian American in her underwear. "I'll get going." Barbara left the room.

Helena sighed. "That girl is odd." Helena got dressed.

 **The Jump City Grand Hotel.**

"...And that is why I would love to welcome Senator from Kentucky, and Majority Leader June Finch!" Senator Moria Queen welcomed Senator June Finch. They embraced as the audience roared with applause.  
Applauding with the audience was the handsome bachelor Oliver Queen. He was dressed in an upscale casual manner, after all this was not a formal fundraiser but a breakfast. A breakfast that sole purpose was to cement his mother into a senior position in the Finch campaign (Moria Queen wanted State) He loathed these events.

The food was terrible, since it was before noon they didn't serve wine, and he had to be presentable and affable. He was thinking of other events of Helena, of Jon Stewart and so forth.

It was odd glacing through the audience he saw a figure he did not expect to see, Alexander Luthor. He knew Lionel Luthor would throw a fit but Lex and his father weren't close at the moment. But Oliver guessed the son of the head of Lex Corps was here to show the differences from him and his father.

Oliver was thinking about talking to him after the event when his mother nudged him, "Come on Oliver, shake hands with Finch. " Oliver sighed. Great. He smiled and let a picture be taken. Senator Finch put a button in his hand, after the photo op was done Oliver saw what it said, "Finch for President."

 **Lex Corps secret lab Jump City  
Later that night.**

The laboratory Lex Corp ran in Jump City was hidden in a facility that was researching for cancer. Under it was a more sinister place. Behind a door labeled A113 was the secret of Lex Labs. In the room were tubes filled with liquid and inside them were people there were more tubes at one time but recent events had made the facility security move them. There three tubes three adults three kids.

The tanks lead to a door that said "Top Access Only." But no one here had access to it. It was thought Luthor was coming tonight but he changed his plans. He said the subject in the tank would be destroyed. The whole room was a flash chamber. It would be burned to a crisp.

The security people and the scientists were working to move the tubes out of here as fast as possible. The staff was readying for the military transport trucks but they were late. The staff were jumpy. They didn't know if the vigilantes would come out to see them.

As the staff readied the remaining tubes there was the sound as the door opened. As the security men turned they saw the short haired, lanky form Alexander Luthor. The lead security man, wearing a uniform that said Hathaway Security. Looked at the younger Luthor. "Sir I am sorry but you don't have access to this facility. It is all defense secrets sir." The lead man nodded. But I am a Luthor." Lex told the much larger security man.  
"

I know that sir but only your father has security access."

"I know. But I could get in. " Luthor replied "Huh?" The guard quizzically asked before being knocked back by two rounds into his shoulder. All the staff jumped and ran to cover. Security men screaming "Weapon!" And "Get to cover!"

Luthor crawled back to the door. As he saw an angry looking Green Arrow glaring at the Huntress. "I told you no shooting, you could have killed Luthor!" Screamed Oliver. Helena groaned as she aimed her weapon at the men. "I am an excellent shot arrow boy!"

"That's not the point! We kill them we cannot get more information from them if they are dead!"

Huntress fired around the corner. "Well it is not my fault they are holding people illegally here!" Huntress screamed. Then the room got really loud. Machine gun and shotgun fire made the whole room a deafening chamber of sound. The concrete of the wall next to them being chipped away as armor piercing bullets ripped through them.  
"Now is not the time for ethics, Robin Hood!" Huntress fired two more rounds and she heard a man hit the ground in pain. Green arrow fired an arrow and it turned into a boxing glove, it a security man knocking him out. The scientists and others began running and a few security people ran away.  
"Come Clay let's get outta here!" yelled one voice as the group escaped.  
"I'm after you Frank!" yelled another. The gun fire was still continuing, Huntress shot two more men and Green Arrow shot three with a net arrow.

"I still have more." Huntress replied as she shot two more security men in the legs. Green Arrow was not happy seeing more people shot. He decided he had to move to protect the men from Helena. She ran towards the remaining security men and he took the first out with his bow, the second was punched several times, though he was only stunned the third Oliver stabbed with taser arrow, the fourth Oliver dispatched with a kick the groin and slamming the man's head into the pole. He was going to get number two when he twisted on the ground. He was grabbing his leg.

"I saved you." Huntress replied.  
"No you didn't." Green Arrow huffed.  
"Hey, you said no killing I just shot them in the legs below the knee. " Huntress teased. Oliver was not pleased with that.

"Hey! Can we focus on the people at hand here!" yelled Luthor. "I should have never told you about this place." he murmured.

Huntress saw the big door. "What's behind that?" "I doubt they would know." Luthor replied, "only my father and another scientist had access codes."

Green Arrow saw on the screen the finger smudges, "I know what numbers he used just no order."

"What are the numbers?" Asked Huntress. "1,2,5,7,0." Oliver than saw something. "Oh no. It's and Infantino." "Oh great", came Oracle's voice over the comms. "Adaptable and hard to beat. " replied Oracle. "Does it have a built in finger print scanner?"

"No it looks like it has a card slot." Oliver sighed. "Good put in the card hacker." Barb replied. Oliver removed a PDA device that was attached to a card via rainbow of wires. Oliver inserted the card. It was awkward for a minute. "So..." Green Arrow said wait. "Yeah..." Huntress replied. It was not normal for them not to be doing something. They scanned for threats.

After a minute there was a ding. "Thank you Mister LUTHOR. Have a nice day." The vault door opened and sirens sounded. Then they were silent. After the vault door opened behind it was a a corridor. Signage read " _BSL4, wear proper clothing beyond yellow door._ " Off to the side of that door was an office that had computer equipment. Oliver went into the office and looked for a way to release the people in the tubes in the main chamber.

He got Oracle to look in the files after he failed, "Oliver how are you so bad at technology?" Huntress looked in the room with the yellow door there was a small window in the door. Lex wanted to look in the room. "Door won't open. But we got a body in there. Human in a spacesuit.""A spacesuit? You mean hazmat suit?" Lex responded getting a peek.

"No it is a space suit, looks like an old one." Lex saw the man on the ground he was wearing what looked like a modern take on an old space suit. They could see his face, it did not blink at them at all.  
"Well he's dead. Only other thing is an empty tube."

Lex looked surprised, "Empty? These tubes should be moved not empty." Lex looked around the room. The tube was empty just contained floating wires and tubes.

"Oh that can't be good."

In the main hall the sound water hitting the floor and hissing could be heard. The tanks were opening.

"I have to find Lionel, the log said he was here an hour before we came. I am having Barbara run a scan on his cell phone." Oliver looked over the others. He looked down the hall and saw people stirring in the emptying tubes. "I didn't think they would wake up so soon." Replied Oliver. Luthor looked as saw the kids stirring along with the adults.

In one tube she saw a face burned in her memory. Santo Cassamento. Helena without thought, or hesitation fired at the man. Hitting him in the shoulder. Santo screamed in pain, his mind already fuzzy was awash in fear and adrenalin, his body began a terrifying transformation. His skull grew in size as his hair fell out and skin turned a charcoal grey. His height grew from slightly under six feet to almost nine feet. Remnants of his human skin hung to his form.

Santo glanced at her before he turned and ran out of the door. Helena was going to chased after him. Leaving Lex alone with five others. "Um can I get some help?" Asked Lex, not sure if Barbara was listening.

 **The Upper Slums, Jump City.**

The former Santo Cassamento, he didn't have a new moniker yet, was trying to find a place to attack his pursuer, this Huntress. He panted as he caught his breath. He leaned against a wall of a building his hand cracked the wall with the lightest of touch.

He looks at his disgusting hands and roared. He was freak. Santo Cassamento didn't know what he was. But he punched the wall, it exploded into a million shards. He looked at his hands and punched the wall. He kept swinging his arms in anger. He was destroying large swaths of the building.

In the distance Huntress saw the beast attacking the buildings. It was gonna bust the block it was on in a matter of minutes. The Huntress readied her weapons and aimed her guns at the beast and fired. The bullets didn't even make a dent. Santo didn't even notice. in his rampage he kept destroying this old block. It was weakened enough that the building fell over.

Huntress changed the rounds to armor piercing rounds. She fired more rounds at the creature and he noticed and glared at her. The former Santo charged.

"Oh shit!" Huntress said as she leaped out of the way of the beast. She ran away from the charging creature as it ran towards her. She ran as it burst through walls and charged it screamed in a gutter all manner. She was running out of places to run from this thing that was Cassamento. The options of escape looked slim as she looked for an avenue of escape. She had fired at the beast the entire time she was running. She looked over her shoulder, it was still there.

Things looked grim until she heard the sound of an arrow go into the ground. It released a gas that was either smoke or knock out gas. Green Arrow then appeared from the shadows and grabbed Huntress. He fired several arrows all bounced off of Cassamento. He then had to leave the area while he could fight Cassamento he did not have the proper materials for a fight like this.

"We're running?!" yelped a surprised Huntress as Green Arrow ran with her away from this block busting monster.

"I don't think you could kill him if you wanted Huntress! His skin is like a tanks and I think he can heal rapidly. Also I don't have deplete uranium arrows they tend to get a lot of attention!" Yelled Oliver as he ran away.

"This is cowardice! We're supposed to make the criminals run away!" Huntress screamed.

"Yes, but we don't have the right tools fight this thing." Oliver said as he and Helena escaped.

 **The Lower Slums, Jump City.**

Lionel Luthor was confused and lost,. The last thing he remembered was his board meeting he had this afternoon. He had called his lawyer. He had no idea how he got here in the slums. He was heading for the road. He hoped the limo Otis was coming in was here soon. Never know when a dangerous man would-

Lionel started to feel, lightheaded as he heard the sound of a gas leaking near him. He saw an arrow next to him. The last thing Lionel felt was the gas in his head a haze in his mind. Lionel fell over.

Helena panted as she ran up nex to Oliver. "Think we can get anything outta him?"

"Probably not." Inhaled Oliver, who sounded tired. The previous escape had tired him out.

"Let's get him and go." Helena replied.

Oliver then ran up and scooped Luthor up.

 **The next day...  
Jump City**

Outside of the Jump City police headquarters, the form of Lionel Luthor was delivered in a cardboard box to the police. It was quiet a sight. Oliver gave the police all relevant information on the people Lionel used as experimental test subjects. He would be held in prison until the trial could begin.

At the arrow cave the five other subjects were allowed to stay for a short time. They were kept in a large area separate from where Green Arrow stayed. The five subjects were Eduardo Durado Jr, Asami Koizumi, Tye Longshadow, Caitlin Snow, and Leslie Willis. The first three were all kids, ages 14. They all had powers but all looked normal compared to the other two. Caitlin Snow, her hair was white standing up on her head and it looked like icicles. Her skin was light blue. Leslie Willis looked the same though from what Barbara could tell their powers were different. Snow had ice powers, Willis electrical. Neither were certain what happened all they remembered was the last thing they did. Snow was in a Canadian laboratory in Vancouver while. Willis was working the 2 AM to 4AM radio program in Coast City.

The question no one knew was why Lionel Luthor did this.


	4. Chapter 3

**Jump City Harbour, 23:30**

Vasyl looked about nervously, making the man opposite him chuckle. "For a hardened fighting man, you're sure on edge there friend."

Vasyl scowled. _Damn black-ass. Once we've dealt with Russia, we'll handle any of you who're in the country._ "I've no problem dying for the Ukraine and for my people. I _do_ have a problem with spending my life in an American prison for no good reason. So I'll say again: do you have my guns?"

The dark-skinned man signaled to his fellows, and one of them opened a crate at random. Inside… Vlad grinned. Row upon row of assault rifles.

"We've kept up our end, now let's see about yours," his opposite number said pleasantly, with a voice as smooth as silk.

Vasy waved one of his five companions – Andriy, it was, one who'd been with the Iron Brigade since the beginning – forwards with the two Samsonite suitases. As the taller man held one out, Vasyl opened it carefully, revealing the small vials packed into the foam within. Eight vials per case, each packed with seeds. "Just as you asked for."

"Ahhhh…" The dark man bent forward, taking one vial out and eying it. "Project Cornucopia. One of the more intelligent projects that the Soviet Union pursued…" He shook his head. "I'm surprised that you never tried to make use of these yourselves. The plants would have done far more to help your nation than any amount of guns and ammunition."

"We thought about it," Vasyl nodded. "When we got our hands on these things, we did consider it hard, but at that point we lacked sufficient land and capital to invest. And now…we need things that help us right this instant, not something that could help us years down the line."

The other man sighed. "Thinking of the now, not planning for the future…the problem of the human race since time immemorial." He shook his head. "Well, no matter. You have what you need, I have what I need. I'd advise you to move quickly, though – between us, we've paid off any of the harbour authorities, but there's always the risk of an honest man."

"Or woman."

Vasyl just had time to wonder where that voice had come from, before a shape dropped from the crane high above him. He barely had time to glimpse a tall, human figure, wearing some kind of silver helmet and matching armour that left a pair of long tanned legs bare, before it landed.

Then everything went straight to Hell.

Kate Kane – _Athene_ – swung her shield in a wide arc, knocking one man from his feet. As he fell, her spear lanced out, spearing one of the Ukrainians through the calf.

She just had time to get her shield and spear-arm raised again before gunfire rang out of the night, ricocheting from the polished surface and from the bracelet on her right wrist.

The Ukrainians had fired, and had also made the mistake of being bunched together. When faced with a woman with a large, round shield and super-strength, that wasn't a good combination at _all._

Her charge bowled three of them over, narrowly missing their leader but bringing down the one with the two suitcases. She stamped a booted foot on his chest, pinning him to the ground, before catching the final man with a hard kick.

She was turning again, turning to face the other group. They were dispersing, producing various weapons…then one of them collapsed as a cloaked and hooded figure struck him over the head with a billy-club. The new arrival – _Eris_ – dodged nimbly as two of them fired on her, then her hands were moving, shedding the club and producing a pair of sub-machine guns. A hail of fire rained down on the offenders, bringing them to the ground beneath a wave of rubber bullets.

Unfortunately, Eris' hasty movements had brought her into the line of sight of another of the enemy, who was drawing a bead with a pump-action shotgun.

 _Damn._ Pulling her arm back, Kate hurled her spear, the force of her throw carrying the weapon through a Kevlar jacket and deep into his shoulder. She prepared to lunge forward, but a car door slammed and an SUV was roaring away suddenly.

Eris sighed. "Awwww, just when it was starting to get _fun._ "

"Be careful what you wish for," Kate admonished, tossing her red cape away from her belt and producing handcuffs. "They were _far_ better than these clowns."

Eris giggled as Kate got to work restraining their incapacitated enemies. "Well, when ya've got super-strength, 'better' is relative, right?" She crouched down next to the open case. "Are these seeds? What do ya suppose they were gonna do with these?"

"No idea, and that's what worries me." Kate looked towards the man she'd caught with a kick, noting that he was picking himself up. "Let's find out."

Walking over, she grabbed him one-handed and lifted him up, holding him by the throat with her right arm fully extended. "Here's how it's going to be," she said as he began alternately cursing and yelling. "I don't have a lot of time right now, so you're going to tell me everything you know _right now,_ or I'll turn the matter over to my friend here and not be specific as to how she gets you to talk."

"Yay! I _love_ when you're not specific."

Eris produced a singularly long, singularly hooked knife and advanced…just as the Ukrainian held up his hands. "Wait! I'll talk!"

"I'll talk!" Vasyl couldn't speak fast enough.

He'd never thought of himself as a coward. He'd been in more fire-fights than he could remember. But… _God in Heaven, I've never fought anything like_ this! And as for the other one's voice…he could hear the glee within. Torture from a professional, he could take. From one who sounded like that…

He quickly continued. "It was a trade! We brought them seeds, they gave us guns!"

"Who were they?"

"I…I don't know! We arranged the meeting via an intermediary here in Jump City! An alias: Janus, he called himself."

The tall figure nodded its – no, her – helmeted head. "And what are the seeds?"

"P-Project Cornucopia! An old Soviet genetic programme…to improve crop yields, provide low-cost source of protein! I don't know, I'm not a scientist! They were developed in Ukraine before the Cold War ended, my brother was a scientist with the project, he stole some of the seeds and froze them when the project ended."

"Why did they want them?"

"I don't know!" The one with the knife advanced, and Vasyl yelled again. "I don't know, I swear!"

For half a second, he hung in his attacker's grip. Then there was a sudden motion, and everything went black.

Kate tossed the small handful of seeds to herself, considering them under the interior light of the car. "I think he was telling the truth, at least to the best of his knowledge, but…there's more to it than this. Nobody hands over that much hardware for improved crop yields." She nodded once to herself. "I'll need to find someone to analyse this."

From behind the wheel of the heavily modified Mustang, Eris – who'd removed her mask to reveal a grinning face beneath an untidy mane of blonde hair – looked over. "How about your friends?" she asked. "Couldn't they use some of their magitech mojo to look it over?"

Kate paused, weighing her words. "I doubt that they'd be that interested, Harleen," she said eventually. "Unless it was something that directly affected them."

 _Hell, that's the only reason they let me leave the island – so I could be their eyes and ears here._ Kate idly toyed with the heavy bracelets on her wrists. Unlike the rest of her armour, the bracelets were sealed closed: she'd wear them until the day she died. Just like the ones who'd given them to her.

Then again, the planecrash had killed all of its passengers except her, and she _would_ have died if her 'friends' hadn't healed her. And the ray had done far more than simply heal her: she was far stronger and quicker than any man, and she could run faster than she ever had before. Next to that, having to wear some slightly tasteless jewellery for the rest of her life wasn't such a sacrifice. Especially since her newfound strength had given her a purpose and mission that she'd been lacking since she got kicked out of the Army.

The Army…she paused, frowning.

Harleen looked over at her. "OK there, Red?"

"Hmm? Yeah, fine."

Harleen was oddly sweet, in her way, but…pretty much incapable of taking anything seriously. To say nothing of being utterly insane. _How she got to be a psychiatrist, I have_ no _idea._ But that's what she'd been, until one bad day. _Thank the gods I was able to save her._

Ultimately, though… No matter how many times they'd fought together since Harleen had reinvented herself as Eris, no matter how close they'd become, Kate wasn't quite ready to share what she'd been doing earlier today. Or her thoughts about seeing her father after these last years off the grid.

 _I wonder what he was doing here?_

She jolted as Harleen leant right over. "Get your mind back here and kiss me, Red."

"Wha-" Kate stared as she realised that her companion wasn't watching the road at all, yet had somehow managed to avoid a truck. "Harleen! You're driving! Get your eyes back there!"

"Nu-uh! Not till you gimme what I want."

"What about if I promise to when we get back…" Kate hastily obeyed as Harleen took her hands off the wheel.

Stuff like that, as she'd realised shortly after the other woman had found her and demanded to be let join her as a sidekick, was utterly typical of Harleen Quinzel, aka Eris. Insane, dangerous…and yet utterly cute, in its own strange way.

 **Undisclosed Location, Jump City**

Yunus feared few things. God. His Master. And the woman facing him now, his Master's trusted right hand in Jump City.

The woman looked at the vial. "Just the one?"

"Indeed, my lady. The one the papers call Athene took down so many so quickly, I knew we could not withstand her. I had this in my hand, I thought it more prudent to take what we had rather than risk it all."

His superior nodded thoughtfully, seeming to consider…then abruptly smiled. "Quite right, too. And I only needed a few, in any case – the others were more for redundancy than anything else."

Yunus couldn't help it. He sighed deeply with relief, making the woman laugh. "Really, Yunus! You should know me by now. I only punish failure where it's caused by cowardice. You took a tactical decision, one that still got me what I needed. Rest assured, you're safe." Her smile turned a little wicked. "Besides, I don't need any test subjects just yet."

 _Thank God._ Yunus, even after so long serving their mutual Master, didn't dare go near the labs that she maintained.

She was speaking again. "I'm more worried about the possibility of future interference by Athene. If she were to put this together with our procurement of the other necessary bits and pieces… Our work is too important to let some interloper ruin everything."

"Will you deal with her yourself, my lady?"

Yunus shivered as Pamela Isley smiled. "Perhaps. I do find interruptions to my work tiresome…but if necessary, I could go and take a personal hand."

 **Airliner approaching Jump City, 09:30**

"We're going to be landing shortly, ma'am." The stewardess sounded as professionally eager as ever, but…there was a definite hint of nervousness there.

Selina Kyle grinned, green eyes glinting with mischief. "Indeed? I'd never have guessed. Not with the general downward theme the flight's taking, and with how the flaps are grinding."

The stewardess blinked. "Y-you can hear the flaps?"

"I hear _everything._ Including you and Jason, I think, saying that I was somewhat creepy." Her grin grew. "Now, run along before I tell you everything _else_ I heard."

The stewardess squeaked and scuttled away, leaving Selina to luxuriate in the last few minutes of her business-class bubble. One of the many advantages of having money was not having to travel crammed in like sardines with shrieking kids. As well, indeed, as being able to travel at all.

Though then again…this was a journey she hadn't thought she'd be making again. There were plenty of law enforcement types who'd be delighted at the prospect of her setting foot in the CONUS again, delighted at the prospect of finally being able to arrest her. And, indeed, she hadn't needed to return to America up until now: there was more than enough work for her across the world, and between it and her _hacienda_ in Paraguay, she was in absolutely no danger of starving. But…something about this job – or rather, the tiny amount she'd been told – was tickling her sense of curiosity. And, if it turned out to be too much heat, she could always walk out. It wasn't like she needed the money.

Besides… _Paraguay's a lovely country, but sometimes you really miss America, damn it._

She looked out of her window, grinning to herself as Jump City rose up below. Hopefully, this job would be _entertaining_ at least.

* * *

 **Boundary of Savage National Park, 14 miles outside Jump City, 10:00**

Kate appeared to have found herself in a Tibetan monastery, where gongs were being beaten around her. At the same time, she was on a rack and some kind of Buddhist demon was constantly prodding at her with objects of varying sharpness…

Her eyes snapped open, and things resolved themselves. The gong was…well, a gong, but rather than a rack she was in bed, and the demon turned out to be Harleen trying to pinch her awake. Said demon grinned unrepentantly as Kate glared at her, before diving onto the bed. "You're awake! Finally!" Kate's breath was crushed out of her by the resulting embrace.

"What time?" Kate managed.

"Time's relative, Red. But in this case, ten."

"Ten at _night?_ "

"Nuh-uh! Ten a.m.!"

Kate took a moment to fully process the information. "I… _I've only been asleep for two hours, you …"_

She was cut off by a hard kiss, followed by a somewhat painful bite to her lower lip. "That's for…whatever you were about to call me," Harleen said sweetly. "But I forgive you."

 _I get woken up, and I'm the one who has to be forgiven. Right._

Blinking slowly, Kate realised she wasn't quite as near to death as she'd thought. Or, indeed, as she would have been if she was still an ordinary, unmodified human. _Thank you, Amazon magitech._

"Well, you're insufferably cheerful about _something,_ you little monster," she said, groping on the cabin floor for some form of clothing and eventually settling on a robe.

"That you're finally awake and paying attention to me? That and, oh, I think we got somethin' on the flower children."

Kate jolted. _"What?_ "

"Oh, well, _that_ got your attention." The implication _And I didn't?_ hung over Harleen's last sentence like a colourful balloon.

The possibility of getting a lead already, combined with the fact that her nose had finally caught up to her brain and was registering the smell of coffee and something greasy frying, did a great deal to perk up Kate's mood. "It did. Since, y'know, getting something _this_ early in the game confirms my partner's a genius."

This time, she was able to brace herself, so she only had _half_ the air crushed from her lungs.

"Well, I can't take _all_ the credit. After you fell asleep – which I'm always kinda surprised by, I'd'a thought your friends would've given ya more stamina there, Red – I drove back into the city and gave Johnny a call. Payphone, don't worry. Gave him the name, the description and what the guy yesterday said it'd do. Didn't take Johnny long, he had it all in half-an-hour. So I went by and picked it up." She produced a small USB key from behind Kate's ear with a flourish. "Lotta old military stuff, apparently, all in Russian but he managed to run it through a good translator."

Kate nodded. "Nice work, to the two of you. We'll need to see about giving him a little bonus. And you too, of a different kind."

She couldn't help but laugh at the grin that covered Harleen's face, or again at the exuberant way she got dragged into the cabin's sitting-room-dining-room-kitchen area.

A relatively sunny day, a massive plate with bacon, hash browns and scrambled eggs, and coffee as black as midnight did a lot to make the world feel a nicer place. As, indeed, did the fact that Harleen was reclining gracefully on her lap.

 _Two speeds, and two speeds only for my girl. Insane, and snuggly._ Both of them utterly loveable in their own way.

And, just to put the cherry on how good things were, the view of the redwoods on the cabin's doorstep was as beautiful as ever.

The cabin had belonged to Harleen's grandfather, who'd willed it to her since apparently she'd been the only one willing to visit him at it. She hadn't used it much when she was working in the city, but since she and Kate had hooked up, and Kate had revealed herself to be in need of a base of operations, they'd been living here full-time.

Of course, if anyone official ever came up here, all they'd find would be a fairly small – though cosy – cabin in the woods. They'd need to actually suspect something to find out about the major extensions that had been done _under_ the cabin: the armoury; the training area; the garage with the tunnel that ran out from an old drainpipe onto the main road… Not for the first time, Kate thanked any god listening that when the Amazons had sent her back to 'Man's World', they'd done it with a large chest of gold sovereigns.

As Harleen talked rapidly, veering from topic to topic – the Goth look was back in, apparently; the iTube video of Kate taking down that crazy Nazi bimbo who could shoot lighting from her eyes had reached nearly seventy million hits; if Harleen were President every clown should be rounded up and thrown in a landfill with hungry dogs; she loved Kate to bits and she was never letting her go never not in a million years – Kate plugged the USB key into her laptop, opened the sole file and began reading, scrolling with one hand and affectionately squeezing her girl with the other arm.

The computer wasn't connected to the Net, of course. The cabin was entirely off the grid: no phone-line; no Internet; no TV. News came from Internet cafes, from newspapers, from informants, and from Johnny.

She read on. Nothing that seemed relevant to the here and now, thus far, but… _Huh. Hell, it's nearly a shame the Wall came down when it did. This Project Cornucopia business could have been a net good._ Not only did the plants grow literally _anywhere,_ on very little water, but they were extremely high in protein, shrugged off attacks by most pests, and were apparently immune to all known plant diseases. And the roots, when pressed, secreted an oil that could be used for engine lubrication with the right treatment.

Oil… Her eyes narrowed as she noticed a small footnote on one of the pages.

Harleen didn't miss anything. "What's up, Red?"

"Just something here… It's a warning against combining the oil from the roots with a list of other plant-based substances. It says the results can be unpredictable, gives an Appendix listing."

She scrolled down as quickly as she could to the relevant appendix…then cursed as a field of black bars appeared. "Redacted! Damn…" And she doubted there'd be any easy way of getting access to the information.

"Well…now that's good news." As Kate frowned, Harleen went on. "OK. Like ya said last night, we didn't think that they were willin' to hand over all that hardware for their five-a-day. An' whatever the 'unpredictable' results were, if they're hidden – even in a secret report – then odds are, the results're why those guys were lookin' for the seeds…"

"And they've given a list of just what substances they're to avoid combining the oil with…" Kate nodded. "Some of them look fairly common, but others…" She looked at Harleen, grinning. "Ms Quinzel, would you care to accompany me to the city?"

"Depends. There gonna be ice-cream?"

 **Undisclosed location, Jump City, 11:30**

Selina had to admit, she was impressed. Impressed by the set-up, the obvious scale of the operation…and the way that literally everyone in this place deferred to the striking red-haired woman sitting across from her.

"Ms Kyle," her new potential employer said, smiling pleasantly. "Thank you for coming so promptly."

"Well, let's just say I was curious. Most people who hire me, they go through a middleman. I tend not to give out my home number." She rolled her shoulders slightly. "Answering that question was worth getting on a flight in the small hours."

"Well, I hope that you end up further interested." The other woman reached to a laptop perched on her desk and turned it around, showing a freeze-frame from an iTube video. "Can you kill this person?"

Selina's brow furrowed slightly, and she pursed her lips, considering. "It could probably be done," she said eventually. "I've seen the video before – a few times, in fact – and I think that she _can_ be killed with mundane methods. It may simply take more time and effort."

"Which means more money, I imagine."

"Exactly." Selina met the red-head's eyes evenly. "Twenty million. Half now, half on completion. And half a million for equipment procurement."

"Done."

Selina blinked, making her employer laugh pleasantly. "You thought you'd have to haggle, did you? Not in the least. I – or rather, _we_ – have deep pockets. What we do _not_ have is time for distractions, else I'd try to deal with this potential threat myself. Hence you."

"I…see." For the first time, Selina was rattled. _I…I think if I'd named double that price, she'd have paid. Who_ are _these people?_

The other woman looked at her steadily. "Just bear in mind…once you accept this money, you accept the responsibility that comes with it. We're generous, but we expect success. Failure is decidedly unwelcome. Do I make myself clear?"

"Abundantly." For the first time, Selina actually felt she was with someone who _meant_ that.

"Good."


	5. Chapter 3 Part 2

**Jump City Municipal Library, 13:00**

Kate rubbed at her eyes as she forced herself through another entry, the glare from the library computer stabbing at her vision. "Well," she said at length, "that's another fairly common ingredient. Apparently, this one…" she pointed at the print-out, at yet another unpronounceable word, "is just a fancy name for sunflower oil."

"Uh-huh." Harleen was doing a good job of appearing unconcerned, flicking through one of a large stack of comics she'd taken off the shelves while she diligently masticated a piece of bubble gum.

Kate fought the urge to look around, to make sure no librarians were descending on them with the intent of ejecting Harleen or both of them. To be quite frank, she wouldn't have blamed them, for oh so many reasons.

She'd decided for a fairly unremarkable, if severe, ensemble today: black suit jacket and trousers, with a white shirt and black heels. Harleen, on the other hand…

The denim skirt with the studs would have been one thing. The tights with the huge holes in them would have been one thing. The tight, small T-Shirt with the gigantic neo-Aztec neon skull on the front and the necklace with the creepy doll's head would have been one thing. All of them together, plus her hair in bunches, made her look like someone who'd just heard of punk but hadn't quite got the idea.

Shaking her head and grinning, Kate returned to the computer, noting that Harleen was switching her attention between her comic books and their tales, variously, of pirates, cowboys and space heroes, and what looked like today's paper.

 _Huh. Well, that's a first._ Of course, they were both as productive as the other, where this case was concerned. But she didn't have the heart to say anything. Especially not when Harleen looked so utterly engrossed and…well, peaceful.

Clicking again, she paused, frowning. _Huh. Well well well…_ "Well, that's slightly rarer."

"What?"

"Eh, probably nothing. But this one, that the oil shouldn't be mixed with, it's apparently some kind of flower that only grows in Sumatra…"

"Like the one that got stolen from the arboretum last night?"

Kate sat bolt upright. "Wh-what?"

Harleen held up the newspaper triumphantly. "Here ya go. Apparently, a gang broke into the tropical biodome at the arboretum and stole the flowers from this plant, along with a whole ton of other stuff. They reckon they were lookin' to sell it…"

Kate took the paper, staring at the article. "No. No no no. I don't believe in coincidences on _this_ scale. This _has_ to be the same gang." She sighed. "But why? What the hell do these things do when they're mixed?"

"Explode? With extreme prejudice? _That'd_ be worth a lot to some folks." Harlan's eyes sparkled. "I wonder how volatile it is."

"No, it'd be easier to buy C-4 or something." Kate paused. "Well…maybe if they explode when mixed, it'd be easier to hide it than it would something artificial like C-4?" An organic explosive, now that she thought of it, would have a lot of uses…

 _But my gut says it's something else. Something bigger…drugs, maybe? No, too much work for not enough return, when there's more conventional ones that can be cultivated for far less effort._

Harleen's burner phone vibrated, and she looked down at it. "It's Johnny," she said. "He says he's got something for us."

"Thank God. I thought I was going to get old looking up different types of plant oil."

A librarian seemed to hover, as though about to walk over and ask them to keep it down, before seeing Harleen and thinking better of it.

 **Undisclosed Location**

Yunus trailed off as he finished delivering the report. Eventually, Isley spoke up. "So, we have a potential greenfly in our plantation," she said at length.

"Not irredeemably so," Yunus said hastily. "Our contacts report that the police aren't taking her statements seriously thus far. So if we move quickly…"

"Yes, but having the girl assassinated would shed more light on the case." Isley smiled coldly. "And your men tend to make even staged attacks look too clean. No, I think that this calls for a more…organic touch."

Standing up, she stalked over to the door and out of the small office. Yunus hastened after her.

Their base of operations in the city had built upon an earlier presence. Built during World War II, the base above ground had been an elaborate _maskirovka_ for a much larger bio-weapons facility below ground, one that had eventually been abandoned after the Cold War. Abandoned…then purchased through a series of shell companies. Then enlarged.

Isley was making for a corridor off the main lab area. Yunus swallowed, but kept after her, steeling himself for what was to follow.

The corridor was lined by several thick, heavy doors, all with keypads next to them. Pausing at one, Isley took a deep breath, tapped in a combination, then stalked in.

Yunus did his best not to look too closely at the figures within the large chamber as they shrank back. He'd found that he slept better if they remained indistinct.

They stopped shrinking away as Isley approached. Then slowly – reluctantly – they began to move closer to her.

Isley smiled. "My dear creatures," she purred softly. "I know that…things have not been comfortable for you. Unfortunately, there were many variables that were unforeseen at the time. But be at peace: the data I've collected since means that those mistakes will likely not plague any future subjects." She paused. "More immediately…I have finished with you. All that I demand of you now is that you do one final task for me. After that: you have my permission to die."

Yunus fought not to shiver at the sheer eagerness on their faces. He would count it an _honour_ to die for the Demon's Head, but not a _release.  
_  
More alarming was the knowledge that they'd die even if they failed. The subjects were literally unable to survive without regular medical intervention. Too long without it, and they'd eventually succumb.

 _It's all for our ultimate cause. Just remember that._

 **Murphy Memorial Park, Opposite S.T.A.R. Labs Jump City, 13:30**

Kate leant against the tree carefully, watching for any sign of surveillance. She hated meeting this publicly – law enforcement would likely _love_ the chance to corner her. Law enforcement and the military, though for quite different reasons.

 _Relax. You're never seen without your helmet. They don't even know your hair colour._

Harleen was seated on a park bench just ahead of the tree, beside a fat young man in a grubby lab coat. "So, how's work?" she asked softly.

The young man didn't look up from the ground. "Quiet," he said at last.

"Johnny, look at me." Harleen pointed from him to her eyes. "C'mon now." She smiled encouragingly as he lifted his head. "Better. So…no change?"

Johnny shook his head, and Harleen sighed. "Sorry ta hear that. But listen: you ever want, you can tell me who it is gives you a hard time, and I'll teach 'em."

Johnny grinned at that, but shook his head again. Much to Kate's relief.

Still… _poor kid. All those brains, but he'll probably end up losing his job._ Johnny's autism was particularly strong, and since he'd been orphaned at a young age, he hadn't had any real support growing up. His family had left him a fair amount of money, so he'd been able to pursue higher education, but since leaving college… Well, succeeding at work was as much about making friends as about being good at it. Right now, Johnny worked in an isolated sub-basement with nothing but a computer for company, and he was still having problems.

Harleen was speaking again. "You were saying you had something for us?"

Suddenly, Johnny turned animated. Nodding, he reached into his bag and produced a laptop, opening it up and making his fingers dance across the keys.

 _Should we be using him like this?_ He was an amazing hacker, but… _Does he truly understand what could happen if he's ever caught?_

Then again, they _did_ pay him. And if he ended up losing his job, the money that Kate and Harleen handed over to him regularly became doubly important.

"That's, that's right." Johnny nodded vigorously, chins wobbling. "You left me with a list of the scientists who'd worked on the project. It took me a while, but I tracked them all down. Two of them are dead; Dr Aliyev is still in Russia, he's part of something called the Coordinate Future Developments Bureau – seems like their version of S.T.A.R. – Dr Nesterova is a direct advisor to Marshal Lebed himself…"

Kate's eyes went wide. _There's people who'd pay millions for someone who can walk in and out of the Coordinate's secure systems – and ours – the way he can, but here he is treating it like no big deal._

Actually, if he ever approached the CIA, odds were they'd lavish money on him.

"Professor Orlov is a lecturer in Oxford…"

 _Huh. We_ could _contact him…_

"And, and Dr Fyodor Okulov was living right here in Jump City. Apparently, he defected in 1991."

 _Not the only one._ Kate knew a _lot_ of Russians had struck out for pastures new between the fall of the USSR and the rise of the Eurasian Coordinate.

Harleen cocked her head. " _Was_?"

"Yeah. He died a month ago. A robbery gone wrong."

Harleen looked up at Kate. Their eyes met, and Kate shook her head. _No way. No way that's a coincidence. First the plants going missing, then this._

Harleen nodded. "Nice work, Johnny." She slid the fat brown envelope over.

Johnny took it. "Thanks, but I wasn't finished yet. His daughter's in town: she's staying at his old house, packing stuff up…but she went to the police yesterday, saying she thinks he was deliberately attacked. A load of stuff is missing."

Kate felt her hands tense into fists. "Where? Where's the house?"

Johnny hastily recited the address – Hughes Heights, a quiet suburb across the city – then the two women were making for their car. Clambering in, Kate divested herself of her suit, ripping it off to reveal the armour beneath, then put her helmet on, before putting the car in drive and pulling out.

On the backseat, Harleen fumbled with her own clothes. "Don't brake suddenly, Red. Not 'less you want me up front with you."

Kate shook her head, glad the windows were tinted. "I suppose doing like I do and wearing your armour _under_ your clothes would be too much to ask?"

"Under _this_ T-Shirt, Red?" Harleen gestured to herself. "Not a lot of room for anything else under here."

"I noticed." Truth be told, despite the urgency of the situation, Kate was having a hard time keeping her eyes off the mirror , angled as it was to the backseat.

Things weren't helped when Harleen leant forward to kiss her cheek. "That's _why_ I wore it, Red."

Kate laughed, but quickly grew serious as they cleared the traffic and began moving more quickly.

The JCPD had made great strides over the last years, but it still had major problems. More than a few officers were still less than squeaky clean, and there'd been several cases where people had ended up dead thanks to leaks of information from JCPD officers. And while she'd be damn glad if they got there and nothing was wrong, Kate was all too prepared for trouble.

The Mustang's engine roared as speed built up, Kate weaving in and out of traffic – much to Harley's indignation as she fumbled her armour on.

Somehow, she managed to get it on. But she was still doing up her cloak as they pulled into the suburb.

Kate saw the house instantly. And the open door.

She was parked and out of the car in an instant, spear in one hand and shield clutched in the other. Just as loud crashing sounds came from within.

A second later, a young woman – barely out of her teens – came running out of the door, followed by several hunched, loping figures in long trenchcoats. One of them grabbed at the running woman, only for Kate, sprinting madly, to bring her shield sweeping across into its centre of mass.

There were six of them, all of whom pulled themselves back as they saw Athene and Eris standing before them. Pulled back, then charged, moving so quickly Athene couldn't get a good look at them before they were in the thick of it.

One of them leapt straight at Athene, pouncing like a big cat while the other two came at her from the sides. Rather than take the pounce, she braced herself behind her shield and charged into the one on her left, knocking it over, then as the pouncing figure crashed to the ground, she spun and stabbed down with her spear, skewering it through the calf. There was an utterly unhuman shriek…then suddenly, the third figure was on her, swiping at her face with impossibly long fingers.

 _No. They're tentacles. Or…_ vines?

Her helmet blocked the blow, but the other hand brought vines too, coiling around Athene's left leg and yanking her from her feet. She rolled sideways as the figure punched down, then grabbed it and pulled it down with her.

Rolling on the ground, she suddenly saw its face. And immediately wished she hadn't. A woman, who might have been beautiful if not for her pale, clammy skin and…a flower growing through her left cheek, making the skin around there turn grey, stared up at her. "K-kill me," she rasped, before punching Athene far harder than she'd expected.

The blow didn't penetrate Athene's armour, but the force was strong enough to knock her backwards. Then flower-woman was on her feet again, advancing.

She was strong, but Athene was stronger. Her long legs kicked out, bowling flower-woman from her feet with one blow and catching the side of her head with the other. But now the third one who Athene had been facing, now revealed as a gaunt man with leaves all over his arms, was advancing…

A glowing golden line entwined him, then he was suddenly yanked backwards, pitched bodily into another figure like a yo-yo. Eris stepped beside Athene, holding the glowing line in both hands.

Ordinarily, Kate was somewhat perturbed when Harleen got her hands on the Lasso of Power. Harleen's evil sense of humour, coupled with the Lasso being one of a very few things that could actually restrain Kate, often led to what Harleen thought were highly amusing situations. But right now, as Athene, she was _very_ glad to see that Eris had brought it with them.

There were two more figures. Both as deformed as the rest. Athene gripped her spear and shield, while Eris held the lasso in one hand and produced a baseball bat with the other. "I'll take the rose-girl there, you take…uh, Cactus Jack or whatever."

Before Athene could say anything, Eris was moving, her two weapons moving. The Lasso shot out, grabbing the enemy and pulling her in, then the baseball bat flew. It impacted with the girl's head – a head sprouting vicious-looking thorns – but she kept going, swinging her arms at Eris. Athene heard a tearing sound from her partner's robes, but she forced it from her mind, barreling into her target. She felt cactus spines snapping under her shield…then suddenly, a heavy blow struck her shield like a sledgehammer, making her arm shake. She pulled the shield back and struck again, focusing all of her enhanced strength into the blow. Her enemy was pitched from his feet, but somehow leapt back to them again, then she had to drop and raise her shield as a rain of spines rattled from it. Not that she thought they'd penetrate her skin, but it was as well to be careful.

Unfortunately, being careful let her enemy run forward and try to launch himself over the top of her shield.

Quickly, Athene flicked her shield to face upwards and jumped up, catching him in his midsection and lifting him bodily up, then hurling him into the side of the house. He hit hard, then fell…and didn't get up.

A loud thud made her whirl…only to relax as she saw that Eris had somehow managed to use the Lasso to hang her enemy from a tree in the garden and was readying her bat. "All _right,_ " she said. "Now, let's see…what comes out when I hit you? Candy? Popcorn? Spiders?"

Athene ran to her, gently but firmly holding the bat. "I think we can leave that. There's no way she can escape from the Lasso."

She looked at the enemy. The woman stared at her in dismay. "No…have to kill…have to kill, then we can die." She reached out to Athene imploringly. "Please! Kill me…" She broke off, hands flying to her face and screaming.

 _Oh God…_ "Get the police here. These people…I don't know, someone needs to help them…"

Athene turned as she saw the young woman who'd come running out emerge from hiding and approach. "Th-thank you," she murmured shyly, in a slightly accented voice. "They…they came in while I was upstairs, they were…" She shivered violently.

Athene patted her shoulder gently. "You're safe now."

"But…but who are you?"

Eris swaggered over, bat cocked over one shoulder. "You're talkin' to the woman who took down Baroness Blitzkrieg, chica," she said cheerfully. "Athene herself."

The incomprehension on the girl's face was an utter picture. "Never mind," Athene said quickly. "Are you the daughter of Fyodora Okulov?"

She nodded, a tear trickling down her face. "Yes. I'm…I'm Katya Fyodora Okulova."

"Let's just say…we don't think your father's death was just a random burglary. But you're in danger – we need to get _you_ out of Jump City…"

"No! I mean, yes, but we need to look in the house first. I mean…the reason, the reason I knew that what happened wasn't just random was because of what was taken. They took the normal stuff – television, things like that – but all his notebooks were gone too. I know he kept things that he'd written back in Russia there. But…but he was always really careful, he kept multiple copies of things. I thought…well, I thought that if I could find a backup, I could know what had been taken and who might have been…" She trailed off, more tears flowing. "I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find anything. And, and then…"

Eris came up on the girl's other side. "Hey now, don't fret. Ya got two extra pairs of eyes now." Athene could hear the grin in her voice. "And you got professional types for vengeance, ya don't haveta worry about it yourself."

"We'll help you look." It was a longshot, but Athene couldn't see many other options now.

Katya was quiet a moment, but then nodded. "Come in."

Unfortunately, looking had been less than easy. Kate sighed, as she rapped yet another piece of floor with her spear's shaft. Still solid, nothing hollow. And Eris had been through all the attics, and they'd all looked in the basement. _And he wasn't obliging enough to have any secret compartments in the wall._

Katya was looking forlorn. "Hey, don't worry." Kate did her best to sound reassuring. "Maybe it's outside the house – a safety deposit box? Or a dead-drop?"

Katya shook her head. "I'm not sure."

They were all assembled in the house's study, Harleen searching the desk. "Not even any print-outs," she sighed. She brightened as she saw something. "This is cute, though." She pushed forward a small toy of some kind. "Don't know what it is though – some kinda military thing…"

She broke off as Katya dashed over. "It's a Katyusha! From the War." She half-giggled, half-sobbed. "Papa – he always called me his little Katyusha. There was a song, he always sang it…"

She grabbed the small toy and turned it over, hands shaking. A second later, she was drawing a slim memory stick out from somewhere.

Beneath her helmet, Kate grinned. _Finally. A lead, maybe._

 _I hope._

 **Aloha Motel, Route 24, 17:30**

The motel was, of course, a tip. But for cash up front, the manager didn't ask any questions or ask for ID.

Selina regarded the fruits of her day's 'shopping spree'. Ten Claymore mines. A remote detonator. A Desert Eagle, a Heckler&Koch MP5, and armour-piercing rounds for both. And, finally, a Steyr HS .50 anti-materiel rifle.

 _"That should do it. I've watched that video on iTube on repeat, and it looks like her skin_ can _be damaged, even if it's tougher than the human norm. But she won't shrug off an anti-materiel round easily."_

Now, she just needed one more thing. Then she could begin, and sooner begun sooner ended.

 _"Ended is good. This whole thing feels wrong."_ She'd reached out to some of her old friends in the city, trying to dig up _some_ information on her new employer. As she usually did – it was only common sense, to find out as much as possible on the ones telling her to kill. But the red-head who smelt of plants…nobody seemed to know anything. Except for a couple who just said that they didn't _want_ to know anything.

She broke off her thoughts as her burner phone rang. "It's me," she said instantly.

Her new employer's voice floated from the phone. "We need to accelerate things. When will you be ready? Our…mutual friend is getting worryingly close."

Selina considered. "I can be ready tomorrow. But I'll need you to provide something."

"Really? Even with all the things you bought today?" There was a low laugh, as though she could see Selina's surprise. "I know everything, my dear. It's easiest to assume that, at least"

"Right…" Selina shook her head, trying to dispel the unease that followed the pronouncement. "OK. What I need from you is scum. At least five disposable thugs. They'll hit a bank or an armoured car or something similar…"

"Ahhh… You want to draw her out?" The voice was approving. "I think I have just the people to get her attention. Though I think I know a better target that could draw her eye – something that will tally with what she knows about my business." She paused. "I approve of your way of thinking, young lady. Well done. And if you pull this off…" Again, that low laughter. "Who knows, we could have more work for you in the future. In the meantime: meet us tomorrow, by the Atomic Arena. We'll have who you need." She paused. "Oh, and little Selina? Don't go trying to find out anymore about us. You might not like the answers."

She rang off, leaving Selina alone. Alone with her thoughts.

 _"She's been watching me."_ The thought ran around and around in her head. Oh, she was used to employers doing background checks on her. But they tended not to watch her when she was actively working. That was how it was _supposed_ to be – they sat back and gave her her space to do their work.

Add to that the sheer lack of _anything_ she'd been able to find on her employer… " _No. I'll finish this job, then I'm heading back to Paraguay. And I'm not going to work for her again, no matter how much I'm offered."_


	6. Chapter 3 Part 3

**Clay District, Jump City, 23:00**

Selina looked down from the top of the apartment block. After a while, she nodded with satisfaction.

Everything was in readiness. Flipping down her night-vision goggles, she could see the small infrared markers she'd put where the Claymores were – the only indicator that they were even there, after the careful work she and a couple of the silent, trenchcoat-clad people that Isley had given her had done. _For a while, I was worried that the people inside would be suspicious – utility workers don't seem to come round here much, but we were outside all day._ But…all seemed to be well.

She began yet another check of her equipment. The remote detonator was working. Her Desert Eagle and the H&K were both loaded with the AP rounds. The Steyr rested on its bipod on the lip of the roof-wall. And then, of course, there were her last resorts: a large combat knife strapped to her catsuited thigh, and a single syringe at her belt.

She looked down once more. Yes, everything was ready. Even if she didn't get why her employer had chosen _this_ as a distraction. _Why does she want us to break into a pot growhouse? It's not like Athene has any desire to protect the city's criminal classes._ But…she supposed that Isley had some kind of method behind her madness. Or maybe this place was under a competitor's wing and she wanted to kill two birds with one stone.

Now… Suddenly, Selina grinned. There was a car approaching. And while it was unmarked and the two inside were wearing plain clothes, she could tell they were police.

 _This should bring our target running._

"All of you: move in. Now. And take out the car approaching"

"We're staking out a growhouse? Really?" Laurel Lance huffed. "Isn't this something the Vice squad should be doing?"

"Yeah, except that the man running it had ties to Cassamento," Ted Grant replied. "And the boys upstairs want the personal angle eliminated on our vigilantes – there's a theory that one of them at least could have been known to him, what with the ferocity of the attack."

Laurel shook her head. "Grasping at straws, by the sound of…"

She paused, breaking heavily as she saw three figures run forward and charge in the door of the small, dirty house that was their target. "Wha-"

Ted was already grabbing at the radio. "Car 42, reporting suspicious activity at corner of Hunter and 3rd, Clay District…"

He hadn't got any further before a fist slammed through the windscreen, grabbing at his jacket and pulling him hard into the front of the car. Laurel stared at the arm – there were green vines all over it, actually growing out of the skin.

Her hesitation lasted only a second, then her gun was out and she fired into the arm. There was a screech, and a spray of a horrifically black blood, then it withdrew.

A second later, her door was wrenched away by another figure. In the weak light from a streetlight, she saw leaves and spines all over his face.

"Car 42, requesting backup! We're being attacked by…some kind of plant…"

She didn't finish, as the monster grabbed at her. She felt spines rip along her gun hand, and she involuntarily released her weapon. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she kicked out, then undid her belt and rolled out and away as the creature staggered back.

She came easily to her feet, then drew and flicked out her stick. Wishing, all the while, she hadn't dropped her gun.

" _…_ _this bombing marks the third such attack in the Eurasian Republic of Novorossiya in the last four weeks,_ " the newsreader droned, filling the Mustang's interior. " _Both the Novorossiyan state government and the Coordinate federal government continue to claim Ukrainian sponsorship of the so-called Iron Brigade movement. Speaking today at a sitting of the Federal Parliament in Moscow, President Lebed labeled the Ukrainian government as a 'Nazi junta', and called upon the democratic powers of the world to sanction the Ukraine in response to the attacks. For their part, the Ukrainian government continues to claim terror tactics being used by Novorossiyan and federal military and paramilitary forces._ " There was a pause, then things continued with the next item. " _US and Republic of Korea Occupation commanders in Northern Korea have accused Chinese Occupation units of encouraging the growth of the so-called 'New Way Communist Party' in the north of the Peninsula. President Mah, speaking in Seoul earlier today, accused elements within the Chinese military of trying to undermine the Republic's authority prior to Northern Korea reverting to ROK sovereignty in 2036…"_

"Can we change the channel, Red? Or put some music on?" Harleen begged.

"In a minute. Just let them finish the actual news – we'll change over when the sports comes up."

Kate didn't have to turn on the inner light to know that Harleen was pouting. And when Harleen pouted… _She knows I turn to Jell-O._ " _Please?_ " she heard her partner plead.

"Just let me hear the next piece," Kate soothed as the newsreader finished a piece about the Japanese 'air defence ship' – translation 'light aircraft carrier' – _Hiryu_ making a port visit to the Philippines.

" _The nuclear-engined shuttle_ Yeager _successfully departed from Cape Canaveral this afternoon, carrying a complement of twelve souls. NASA and S.T.A.R. Labs personnel place their arrival at the Lunar Research Village at 14:00 tomorrow, Eastern Standard Time._ "

Kate grinned. " _That's_ what I was waiting to hear. I agree with you about the rest of the news, but the space programme actually interests me." Especially the Research Village – over five hundred scientists, living and working on the lunar surface… How amazing was _that?_ "Plus, with how much of our news intake revolves around tracking down criminals…it's good to have some serious news that isn't work-related once in a while."

She fumbled for a CD…only to pause as she realised that Harleen wasn't moving. Or saying anything.

"What is it?"

"I'm…sorry I'm not serious." The voice that Harleen was speaking in was almost impossible to recognise as her.

Without thinking, Kate stamped on the brakes, pulling over. "What?" She was unclipping her belt, turning to face her partner.

Harleen was sitting bolt upright, not moving a muscle. "I have to be serious," she said, her voice sounding… _scared? My Harleen, scared?_ "Stepmom says so. Serious girls don't read those stupid comic books, they read proper literature. Serious girls wear their hair neat and straight. Serious girls study math, not Art."

Kate felt her heart turn to ice. "Harleen? Baby, I'm sorry – I didn't mean…" She fumbled for words. "I, I didn't mean you should be serious, I just meant…Oh God, I'm sorry!"

She grabbed Harleen, hugging her tight. Her partner remained sitting ramrod-straight, utterly unresponsive, making Kate hug her even harder, pushing back her hood and kissing her again and again. "Please, baby, snap out of it, I'm sorry, I love you just the way you are, I couldn't bear it if you ever changed." She knew she was crying, and she didn't give a damn. _Please don't let her think I was thinking that about her oh gods please let her be OK._

Slowly, she felt Harleen's arms rise. Then, more enthusiastically, she felt them grip her in their usual tight embrace, and Harleen's face pressed into her armoured shoulder.

She breathed out gently. She knew – well, guessed – that Harleen wouldn't even mention this afterwards. It was like that time she'd woken up from what had sounded like a really vivid nightmare, during which she'd been saying…things that sounded uncannily like what she'd been talking about just now. She'd woken up, and had a good cry, but after that she'd been her normal self and it had never come up again.

"I'm sorry," Kate repeated. "I love you, you know that, right?"

For a long while, there was no response. Then, eventually, Harleen raised her head. Her face was streaked, but she was smiling like normal again. "Love you too, Red," she murmured.

The sudden screech of their police-band scanner made both of them jump. "Car 42, requesting backup! We're being attacked by…some kind of plant…"

Both women looked at each other. "Do we have a location?" Kate demanded, moving back behind the wheel and putting the car back in drive.

"Corner of Hunter and 3rd." Harleen looked up. "Huh. Plants attacking a growhouse. D'ya reckon they're cannibals, Red?"

"What?"

"Well…they're plant-people, or whatever. So would smokin' dope make 'em cannibals?"

Kate laughed despite the situation, glad to hear her girl back to her chirpy self. "Not unless they're cannabis monsters. I mean, we eat other animals, but nobody calls us cannibals since they're different species."

"Huh." Harleen cocked her head. "What kinda powers would a cannabis monster have? Would they make their enemies really laid-back, or paranoid, or just really really hungry?"

Kate knew she shouldn't laugh. Not, especially, after what had happened to the creatures who the police had scooped up earlier. Apparently, they'd all slipped into comas shortly after being brought to hospital, and a few had died from raging infections where plant met human flesh. _I'd like to catch whoever did that to them._

So she knew she shouldn't laugh. But damn it, that was a _funny_ image. "Harleen Quinzel…don't ever, ever change."

" _Kiaai!"_ Dinah yelled as she roundhouse kicked one of the two creatures advancing on her, then smacked it over the head with her baton.

It barely even registered, and she had to duck as it swung at her. She'd seen what their punches could do to their car, one hit from that and she'd be _dead._

Still, at least she was drawing them away from Ted. He was still out of it, she had to keep them from turning and finishing the job. Even if that meant keeping two of them busy.

More than she could do for the people inside the house. She'd already heard screaming and shots from in there…

She managed to drop and dive as the other swung at her. But then she got the fright of her life as the one she'd shot grabbed at her with suddenly, extending vines. They wrapped around her arm, and she suddenly found herself being lifted bodily off the ground. And more were emerging, ready to strangle…

Then, with a jolt, she was released, falling to the ground hard as her attacker flew into a wall. As she tried to pick herself up, she saw the other…thing being confronted by a tall woman in silver armour and a red cape. As it charged, so did the woman, a spear and shield in her hands.

 _Damn. Another of these costumed freaks._ Though…this one didn't look like just your typical vigilante. Not with how a single blow sent the other creature flying backwards where Laurel hadn't been able to even stagger it a bit.

Turning, Laurel began desperately searching the ground.

A final blow, and the plant creature fell quiet. That done, Athene moved over to the police car. A man was slumped, unconscious, behind the wheel.

Pulling the door clear and taking him out was the work of a moment.

There was a clicking sound. "Put him down." The other officer, a tall, athletic blonde, advanced, gun held two-handed.

Athene sighed. "Even if your gun could actually penetrate my skin, blondie – which isn't a given, I'm afraid – that's…what, a 9mm? You'd need something heavier than that to crack _this_ armour. Add to that the fact I'm holding your pal here and you're more likely to hit _him_ than me with how your hands are shaking…put it down."

"No way!"

"Have it your way. Though you _do_ realise that the clip's fallen out, right?"

So saying, she carefully laid the unconscious man down in front of the blonde, who was glaring at her sadly empty gun. "Take him back, somewhere well out of the way. I'm going in _there._ "

Before any response could come her way, she turned and began stalking towards the door, weapons held ready.

 _Pity that Katya and Johnny didn't get the memory stick decrypted. But if these guys are here, I think we found our missing final ingredient._ Though…it was kind of weird. Marijuana wasn't hard to grow, why were they robbing it?

That was why she'd sent Eris up high, to watch for anything else. This whole thing felt…off…

Laurel carefully laid Ted down, a good distance from the growhouse, then turned and looked up. The woman in armour was just about to walk in the door.

 _Goddamn freak._ She felt her hands balling into fists. Only the knowledge that the woman could probably break a SWAT team in half kept her from going back in there.

Then, suddenly, the world turned inside out.

Selina grinned as the explosions blossomed out: explosions from the Claymores in the street and from the C-4 she'd managed to secrete under the house.

She didn't gloat long, though. Her eye was fixed through her rifle's scope, watching for any movement. If she was right, her target would probably have made it… _there._

Athene staggered forward. The world had suddenly become a cruel, hateful place. Her head was ringing like a bell, she couldn't hear anything besides the constant ringing, and her arms and legs _hurt,_ with bruises already erupting everywhere after all of the ball-bearings that had gone flying.

She hissed in pain. The ray that had transformed her had made her skin _tougher,_ but it wasn't invulnerable. If there'd been more Claymores, the sheer weight of metal might have been too much even for her more robust body. And the wave of the explosions had thrown her around like a rag-doll…

Despite the pain, she forced herself to keep moving. She could barely formulate a coherent thought, but she knew she couldn't stay…

She never knew how she knew to do it. But her shield arm came up over her face and upper torso, just as the heavy round hit. The impact knocked her off her feet, made her land hard, but the shield held.

Selina hissed to herself as she jacked her rifle bolt back. _How? How'd she do that? I had a perfect shot, right where the helmet ended and the armour began!_ And how the shield was still intact, she had no idea. This gun could go through anything short of a tank, but…

The shot seemed to have snapped her target out of her shock. The woman was running now. Running down the road between the target area and the building Selina was perched atop.

 _Hell._ Selina sighted and fired, but the round struck the street just behind her target. Another working of the bolt, another shot. This one punched out a window.

 _Focus. Focus. You've got time. Remember: aim in front of her. Don't get panicked._

She breathed in and out carefully, making sure to allow maximum deflection. If she judged this right, the next round should hit the target's legs. Even if it didn't kill her, it'd cripple her, allow leisure to finish off…

Her ears caught the movement in the air, and she spun, raising the rifle in a guarding motion. Just in time, as the baseball bat whistled through the air, smashing hard into the rifle.

Selina rolled away and leapt, cat-like, to her feet, as another swing followed, followed by a dark-clad, hooded figure. "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" the figure screamed.

Another swing, but this time Selina was able to step inside and deliver a hard chopping blow to where she _thought_ the throat was. Then got knocked backwards as her target swung the bat around and jabbed her in the stomach with the handle. She managed to grab the bat and twist it out of the other figure's hands, but they came up with a pair of knives.

She tensed, balanced on the balls of her feet, as her opponent regarded her, face hidden beneath the cowl. "So," she said. "You're the sidekick."

"And you're dead." The figure suddenly giggled. "Dead or in prison. My girl'd prefer prison, but she ain't here, so I guess I can kill ya. Or at least play with ya a bit. Maybe somethin' involving a conveyor belt in a catfood factory."

Before Selina could react, the figure was suddenly attacking, both hands moving in a flurry of wild, chaotic slashes that Selina desperately dodged and weaved away from. Even with her heightened reflexes, dodging them was next to impossible – so chaotic were they, she couldn't predict what way they'd come at all.

Then she fought back a cry as one of them raked across her left arm. But the slash had brought her target too close…and her own knife was in her hand now. She stabbed down, where she thought the other woman's left leg was, and was rewarded with a loud shriek.

As the other woman fell, she dropped her knife and drew the Desert Eagle. _Time to end this quickly…_

A second later, she was flying as something heavy barreled into her.

On seeing Harleen fallen, hurt, Kate suddenly didn't feel like Athene any more. All she wanted to do was to drop her weapons and run to the other woman, run to her and get her out of here. But then she saw the assassin, a slender, toned figure with dark hair and a black catsuit, recovering herself, and she knew she had to stay Athene for a little while longer.

The assassin was on her feet as Athene began her charge. On her feet and raising a machine-pistol, which flared to life in a heartbeat. Kate snapped her shield up, feeling heavy impacts thudding through her arm. _Armour-piercing. Clever little bitch – that could wound._ It was certainly denting her shield…

Denting, but not penetrating. And her shield was more than intact enough to sweep around and bowl the assassin off her feet. But she managed to land on her hands and then sprang upright again, before lashing out with a spinning kick. The blow caught Kate on the side of her head, but she didn't feel it, not hesitating in stabbing out with her spear. The assassin twisted away, flowing around the blade before it had properly started stabbing, like she'd sensed it coming. Then she landed a hard chop to Kate's throat. At another time, Kate might have laughed – the armour would mean the blow did more damage to the assassin's hand than anything else.

She lunged forward again, both arms lashing out in a pincer blow, but the assassin vaulted nimbly backwards, then came up holding a syringe.

Selina stabbed the syringe into her leg and forced the plunger down. She hated using this stuff, but she hadn't any alternative. Athene utterly outclassed her, if Selina kept trying to go toe-to-toe with her like this, she'd end up beaten. This stuff was damn expensive, and it was lethal if not used properly – it had been developed in a prison-cum-weapons-lab – but it could give her the edge she needed. Of course, it wasn't full strength, so it wouldn't make her muscle mass grow massively and it wouldn't get her hooked, but...

She dodged the thrusting spear, and punched out, hard. The first blow sent her opponent flying backwards, then Selina jumped forwards, landing a powerful kick to her.

Athene rolled away as the assassin kicked again, jumping back to her feet and catching another lightning-fast blow on her shield.

 _What the hell was in that syringe?_ The assassin's strength had multiplied in seconds.

And now she'd scooped up her knife again, and was lunging forward. Athene tried to catch it with her shield, but at the last moment – moving too fast to see, nearly – the assassin dropped and slid along the ground, the knife and the new strength behind it scoring a bloody line across Athene's left calf. The blade was dulled, but Athene was still _hurt._

She spun, lashing out with her spear, but the assassin managed to dodge again…then somehow leapt on _top_ of the spear shaft and vaulted off it above Athene, blade slashing across her upper right arm. Again, the knife was dulled, but again it drew blood.

 _Shit. She's too damn fast – even with her strength, if I could just get her, I could end this. But the strength and speed together…_

She swung her shield as the assassin came in for the attack again.

The blow pitched Selina back, but… _Hmmm. She hit with her shield that time, not her spear. Is her right arm feeling the strain now?_

Dancing nimbly around, she attacked from the right again. Rather than parrying with her spear, Athene shifted to make her left side cover her right side.

 _Very good._

Selina decided to test things a bit better. She slashed out in a fairly predictable-looking attack, one that seemed to leave her open…then as the spear stabbed out, she twisted back again, grabbing at the shaft and tugging hard. There was a yelp of pain, and it came away.

 _Yes!_

Dancing back away, Selina tensed…then lunged for the target, slashing for the left hand. Then, as the shield came up, she tumbled sideways and jumped, putting all her power into the dive.

 _Gotcha!_ As the assassin pounced, Athene raised her right arm and punched hard. _Not that badly hurt, witch!_

The punch slammed into the assassin, arresting her progress and sending her flying back into the roof lip. She landed hard, clearly winded, then as she tried to pick herself up Athene ran forward, grabbing the belt of her suit, lifting her from the roof and hurling her like a discus, to land on another roof with a bone-jarring crack.

Athene prepared to leap after the assassin…but Kate froze, as she heard a low moan. Turning, she ran over to Harleen. "OK, baby, I'm here," she murmured.

The only answer was another moan. Hissing, Kate ripped the cloak open, looking down. Blood was welling up from Harleen's right thigh, soaking the black leggings she wore under her armour. She'd managed to snap a plastic tourniquet around her leg, and was desperately clinging onto the wound, but it looked bad. _How much blood has she lost? Oh God, her hands are covered with it._

Kate carefully scooped her up. "Don't fret, little one. We'll have you patched up soon."

Selina pulled herself back to her feet, hissing with pain. One of her ribs was definitely broken.

 _Have to get out of here._ Even with the serum, she'd been utterly, humiliatingly beaten. And she'd hurt, possibly killed the sidekick. She was under _no_ illusions about what would happen to her if Athene came back.

Cursing, hissing, she made her way away. _Move it._ She remembered a private hospital not too far away, a black clinic, one exactly for treating people who were willing to pay for medical service without records.

So intent was she on getting off the roof, she didn't note the small drone hovering above her.

Harleen moaned again as Kate dropped her on the back seat of the Mustang. "It's OK, baby girl, you're going to be just fine…" Kate kept talking, kept gently soothing as she scrabbled for what she was looking for in the space between the seats. Eventually, her fist came up, clutching a small metal caduceus. Turning back, she gently ripped the blood-soaked legging away from Harleen's wound.

 _Oh gods no._ She looked damn pale… Gritting her teeth, Kate raised the caduceus and began playing it over the wound. A second later, a blue beam shot out, flashing up and down.

The beam was a weaker version of the purple ray, built for handling individual rather than multiple wounds…and it didn't bestow powers. But for this purpose, it worked just fine. Kate saw the wound closing, saw the flesh flowing back together, until suddenly it was gone, only the blood stains remaining to show that there had even _been_ a wound.

 _Now…_ She looked down at Harleen, carefully pulling her hood back. The other woman looked so pale – _has she already lost too much?_ Kate didn't _think_ so, she'd seen people fight through with worse wounds and more blood loss, but those were big, well-fed, fit soldiers, not petite blondes…

Harleen twitched, and Kate was beside her instantly, helmet dropping to the floor as she held Harleen close. "I've got you. I've got you, don't worry. I'm so sorry. So sorry I wasn't there, so sorry about earlier…" She knew that her words were just spilling out incoherently, knew but didn't care. "I'm so so sorry, oh gods..."

She froze as Harleen coughed. Then she saw Harleen looking up. "Red?"

"Yes?"

"I…I wanna kill her."

Kate burst out laughing, even as tears of relief flowed down her cheeks. "Me too, babe. Me too."

 _She's alright. Thank you, gods._

 **Undisclosed Location**

Yunus frowned at the drone-feed. "Our assassin failed," he muttered.

Pamela Isley nodded, eyes fixed on the screen. "Yes, though she'd likely have succeeded if not for the second one. But even in failure, she's given us a lot of information about our foe. She's clearly not invulnerable, for a start." She paused. "Of course, Miss Kyle herself is rather fascinating."

"How so?"

"Well…look at how quickly she moves, how she anticipates actions. Could you do that, so quickly?"

Yunus considered as he watched. Eventually, he shook his head. "No. And I'd be hard-pressed to stand against her, unless I could take her unawares."

"Exactly. That's not just training. She's…special." A smile crossed Isley's face. "I wonder…how would she respond to being made more special?"

As Yunus pondered just what his leader meant by that, she nodded once, decisively. "Keep an eye on her, especially once she reaches where she's going. And have a few of our people, whoever we can spare best, stay close and wait for what I have to say. After that, the ball's in Miss Kyle's court. If she decides to try again, then we'll leave her to it. If she backs out…well, I'll know what to do."


	7. Chapter 3 Part 4

**(OOC: This is long one. Get ready.)**

 **Malebranche District, Jump City 13:00**

Kate had only been to Johnny's apartment a couple of times, but she always found it pretty incredible. Not the nature of the apartment – it was a fairly basic place, above a corner store – but how _clean_ it was. Especially when one compared it to the state of Johnny's lab coats and other clothes. _Though not himself – his clothes are in rag order, but he always keeps_ himself _insanely clean._ But his apartment… If Kate hadn't known better, she'd have sworn it belonged to someone who'd done time in the military.

"So, what've you found?" she asked. Wishing that she could have taken Harleen with her – her partner was usually better at talking to Johnny than she was. But after last night, she'd insisted that Harleen get at least a day of rest. The ray had healed her right up, but things had taken a toll and she didn't want her girl overtaxing herself.

 _She's probably ignored me completely, but at least she won't be in actual danger today._ The worst she could be getting up to was binge-watching horror DVDs or violent exercise.

It was Katya who answered, as Johnny kept looking at his hands. "We finally broke the encryption and got access to the files inside late last night. They were PDF scans of my father's notebooks – he wrote them in a kind of code, based on _Lord of the Rings."_ She blushed. "He always read it to me as a child, so I could read it right away. But anyway, the notes here were all about a specific part of Project Cornucopia." Sighing deeply, she continued. "They discovered by accident that combining the oil from the plants with the sap of the Javanese bloodflower created a gas. Initially, they thought it was just a mild explosive reaction – a couple of test tubes got destroyed, nothing more – but then they found that someone who'd got a lungful of the gas became highly suggestible. After that, he wrote that the KGB took over administration of the project – they froze him and the civilian scientists out of everything but developing the basic plants, and brought in a collection of military scientists to try to reproduce the gas."

Johnny nodded. "He, he said that he wasn't involved, but, em, he managed to follow the research. Apparently the, the big problem was that they couldn't stabilise it – it was too volatile, it could explode just as easily as form what they wanted."

"Until," Katya added, "they managed to locate a substance that _would_ stabilise it. It's an extract from a plant from Costa Rica – the Inferno Plant."

Kate frowned. "Sounds like a name a teenager would come up with."

Katya giggled. "Apparently it was only discovered in the early '80s. By some biotech company – they were looking for exotic plants to engineer for the home market, and it was a particularly striking plant, all reds and oranges. They decided that people would pay through the nose for a smaller, domestic version, and they chose the name as part of an advertising campaign. But it was only after the first ones went on the market that it was revealed how toxic the leaves were."

"The company nearly went bankrupt after that," Johnny chimed in. "And then they did for real when they were trying to engineer a pale trout that'd be easier for anglers to spot."

"Anyway," Katya concluded, "the Inferno Plant's extract could be used to stabilise the solution: allowing it to be safely aerosolised or made into a liquid. The KGB were going to secure another plant and begin breeding it in Russia, but…"

"The USSR fell," Kate finished.

"Yes. And the project was in Western Ukraine, so it didn't go to the Coordinate."

Kate frowned. This didn't sound good… "How suggestible?"

"Entirely. With the compound in one's system, apparently one would instantly obey any orders given without any critical thought."

 _I can think of any number of criminals, terrorists and utter bastards who'd want that._ "And this plant's only found in Costa Rica?"

"That's right, and from the early 90s its export has been heavily controlled. But…"

"S.T.A.R Labs has one right here," Johnny finished. "Recent, recent studies identified medical uses, so they're working on a genetically modified version without the toxic leaves."

"Well…looks like we know their next target now." Kate drew herself up. "Well done, you two." She held out another envelope to Johnny, then produced an airline ticket and handed it to Katya. "You'd best leave – get back to college for the moment. We'll handle things from this end." As the girl opened her mouth, Kate held up a finger. "I promise we'll keep you in the loop, but you can't stay here. We can't guard you and take the fight to these people at the same time, and they might well come after you again."

 **Private hospital, Malebranche District, Jump City, 14:00**

Selina Kyle winced as she shifted slightly in the bed. In the end, it had only been one rib that was damaged, and it wasn't a _bad_ break, but still, between it and these never-sufficiently-to-be-damned bandages… _And how much I'm paying for this place._

Still, for the money, she could count on complete anonymity. As well as other perks: any food or alcohol she wanted would be brought in, as would more…corporeal pleasures; her room was private, with a very high-tech, very comfortable bed; and there was a television and full DVD library.

So far, Selina had ordered in a large amount of sushi; a bottle of Black Label; and a burner phone. This last, she was staring at now, toying with it as she tried to decide what to do.

 _I have a reputation. When I take a job on, I see it through. If I back out now, it'll get out, and I'll find it harder to get new contracts._

On the other hand… _Do I really need a new contract? I'm already pretty damn rich, I_ could _afford to retire._ The idea hadn't ever really appealed to Selina before – especially not since she was still a young woman – but now… _I came closer to dying last night than I ever have before. If she hadn't gone to check on her sidekick, she could have finished me off and I couldn't have stopped her._

She'd taken the job because it seemed a challenge. A thrill. But she could quite safely say that it had lost any appeal it had had.

 _Then again… How'll the woman with the money react? Would she genuinely turn violent? Or was that all bluster about failure?_ Selina really didn't know, but there was so much about that wretched woman that made her hair stand up on end. The extra muscle she'd provided, for one thing…whoever they were, even without seeing their faces she'd known there was something wrong with them. And the smell…

Still… She was relatively confident that even if her employer turned nasty, she could bail and run. She had no confidence about going up against Athene again.

Making her decision, she dialed and pressed 'Call'.

There was a long, long time ringing, then her voice came. "Selina? I understand things didn't go to plan last night."

"You could say that," Selina said, speaking slowly and keeping her voice steady.

"I'm sorry to hear that." There was a pause. "Would you feel able to make a return engagement?"

Selina swallowed. "No. I'm sorry, I've never done this before, but no. It was too much for me – it was pure luck I got out of it."

Another pause, a long one this time, followed. "Well, I can't say I'm _happy,_ " Isley said eventually, "but I can understand it. We should all know our limits, though hopefully surpass them eventually."

Selina sighed with relief. "Look, I'll refund the advance. Plus interest. And the expenses – we'll write this up as a loss to me."

"That's reasonable. All right, then. Though maybe we can do business with more…mundane concerns?"

"Absolutely." _No way you'll see me back in Jump City again._ "Send a message with the account number to this address…" She rattled off the hospital's location. "I'll be here a couple of days, so I can get us squared right away."

"Excellent. Well, good luck on your recovery, and I hope to see you again soon."

The phone line went dead. Selina undid the back of the phone, took out the SIM card and broke it. Then sank back onto her pillows, relief washing over her.

 _Now, let's see about this sushi. And I wonder what DVDs they have…_

Yunus watched as Isley hung up, a definite smile on her face. "Get the operatives you detailed to watch her. Tell them to bring her in."

"Now?"

"No – time it with our operation tonight. That way I won't have to interrupt anything mid-way through." Isley's smile widened. "I think that Ms Kyle will be a major breakthrough, Yunus. A major breakthrough indeed."

Back at their cabin, Kate was facing a sadly not-unexpected mutiny.

"I'm comin' with you tonight," Harleen said, folding her arms.

"Harleen, you still need to _rest_ ," Kate told her, trying her best not to sound like she was pleading. Trying, and failing. "The ray healed your wound, yes, but it was still a shock to your system. You don't just shrug that off."

"Yeah, an' if I hadn't been there last night, you'd'a died Red."

Kate wished she could say that Harleen was exaggerating. But she couldn't. The anti-materiel rifle the assassin had been using was more than capable of killing even her, and she wasn't altogether confident that her armour could have kept it out – her shield barely had, and it was thicker and heavier. And even if the armour _had,_ the shock of something so large hitting her could have done massive internal damage… No, if Harleen hadn't been there, she could easily have died.

On the other hand, without the ray, Harleen could have very easily died. "Harleen…baby, I'm incredibly grateful to you for that, but I don't want you risking yourself so soon. I mean, I'm the bulletproof one…"

She stopped, desperately reaching out as Harleen jumped off the couch towards her. She barely caught the smaller woman, but Harleen quickly anchored herself in position by wrapping her arms around Kate's neck and her legs around Kate's waist. And just like that, Kate felt her resolve draining. "Look, it's really not a great idea… And, and it could be really boring – they might not make their move tonight, or tomorrow, or any night for a while…"

"I'm comin', Red. Ya just gotta accept, it's more headache than it's worth not letting me come." Harleen grinned sassily, before leaning into whisper into Kate's ear. "'Specially given all the ways I can make your life miserable."

Between the many dark implications in that comment, as well as the fact that Harleen was now chewing her earlobe, Kate knew she was beaten. But she could at least try to save some face, end things with some dignity. "Can…can you at least promise me you won't do anything too dangerous?"

"If you're prepared to believe that, then sure thing!"

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, 23:30**

Yunus finished loading his silenced MP5 and disengaged the safety catch, then raised his head to watch the rest of his strike team doing the same. They filled the interior of the van, clad entirely in black, even their eyes hidden by their night-vision goggles.

He felt pride rise within him. A dozen men and women, all at the absolute peak of physical and mental fitness, from all around the world, all united by their utter dedication to Ra's al-Ghul and his design for a better world.

At his nod, they all swarmed out, moving in utter silence. From the other van, meanwhile, the second element of the strike force was descending: Isley, and six of her remaining test subjects. Yunus hissed to himself. The test subjects were strong, true – stronger than any normal human, and able to struggle through things that would kill even his men and women – but they still put the fear of the Demon's Head into him. They, and the fact that if her experiments were actually successful, then she'd be asking for volunteers among his soldiers.

 _In the service of Ra's al-Ghul, I'd agree to anything that made me stronger and better able to carry out his orders. But her work is as much by guess and by God as by anything else – I'll not have her doing anything to my people._

"Are we ready?" Isley demanded.

Yunus nodded. "Team Two are in position, ready to cut the cameras on our say-so, and our Sniper Team will cover all approaches. Once the power's cut, we move in through the ventilation shafts to the East, that'll take directly to the outside of the biochem labs. It'll also allow us to bypass the security doors on the upper levels – we'll only have to get through the locks on the lab complex itself…" The designers had made sure to isolate the biochem labs from the outside, given the risk of contamination, "…and to take out the security guards in that part without attracting overmuch attention." He allowed himself a small grin. "Not that bored rent-a-cops would be much of a problem anyway, but the scalpel usually works better than the sledgehammer."

"Indeed. And the other issue?"

"Being taken care of."

Selina Kyle had had more than enough of the DVDs, at least for the day. And she was far too buzzed to try to sleep. So she was passing the time of day with the nurse who'd come in to check her over.

"So, whereabouts are you from?" she asked, grinning widely.

"New York, but my family came from Iran originally." The nurse – Tania – smiled prettily in turn. "Long ago, back before even the Shah got overthrown. We're more than Americanised by now."

"Oh, that wasn't why I asked. It just occurred to me, you seemed a little exotic for this dump."

Tania giggled. "Hardly – I don't even have a foreign accent."

"Or a New York one. You're perfectly American…"

Selina blinked. That sound, the clicking… Her right hand slid under the bed as she breathed in, focusing on things beyond the hospital odours… _Gun-oil._ And she heard three sets of boots.

"Tania, I hate to ask, but could you go over there and have a look at the air conditioner? It's a bit cold in here."

"Absolutely."

As the girl moved into the part of the room furthest from the door, it opened and three men walked in: a doctor and two men in nurse's uniforms, holding stacks of towels that managed to mostly hide the guns they were carrying – would have entirely hid them, if Selina hadn't known what to look out for. The 'doctor' in the middle wasn't carrying. "Ms Jones, how're we…"

He barely had time to blink before Selina had the Browning Hi-Power drawn…and he'd only just blinked as she fired, twice, one bullet for each of the armed men.

Selina took aim carefully as the two dead men hit the ground. "All right," she said sternly. "You can go and tell your boss: I don't appreciate …"

She jolted suddenly, convulsing as electricity coursed through her. She just had time to register Tania holding a Taser, then everything went black.

Mira hissed with relief as the assassin fell unconscious. For a second, she'd thought that she _wasn't_ going to drop, and the gun had been clutched in her hand throughout.

Hans glared at her. "How the _hell_ did she get a gun in here?" he demanded. "I thought you'd searched her room!"

"I did, when I was actually in here! But I had a cover to keep – I couldn't just waltz into her room when I took the fancy." Mira had let her accent return to its more natural state. "Unlike you – you could have checked any time you wanted, 'doctor'."

Hans flinched. "What the hell does Isley want with her anyway?" he said, changing the subject.

"I couldn't say, but she's our leader and she reports straight to the Demon's Head. Do you want to question her? And where the hell are the others?"

"On their way up with the gurney." Hans was looking out onto the corridor. "Though they're taking too long – we took out the guards, but what if the next shift arrives?"

"Then we'll kill them too. And the patients won't be any problem – they'll just be thanking God that the shots weren't for _them_." Mira fought down a grin at the image of the various criminals who patronised this place hiding in their rooms, or behind bodyguards.

Though the fact that this place existed at all… _How corrupt our society is, that criminals are able to have such a refuge._

But the League would sweep the world clean and build something new, something better. And if that involved this assassin, then Mira would deliver her.

The attackers had swept through the ducts easily, and had emerged just outside the heavy mechanical door that led to the biochem labs. Getting through that had been relatively straightforward, and then they were moving through the labs, making for the organic specimen habitats in two groups of six normal and three augmented: one taking the stairs; one moving up the elevator shafts.

Yunus, leading the group taking the stairs, frowned. Oh, he hadn't expected much of a challenge from the guards, but…where _were_ they all? Granted, the majority of security personnel tended to be concentrated around the engineering and R &D sections – the biochem labs were sealed off to prevent accidents, but there wasn't usually any truly dangerous research carried out here, nothing that could be of great interest to thieves – but there should be at least a _few._

Still…they were at the top of the stairs now, and moving out onto the wide corridor that would ultimately lead them towards their destination…

Even with his goggles, he didn't see the lurking figure until it moved. Then it – _she_ – was suddenly in among his men.

Athene fell upon the intruders with cold fury, shield flying and spear flicking in and out. Three of them went down instantly, knocked out or incapacitated with precise spear strikes. The others pulled back quickly and smoothly, guns up and raining silenced death at her. She raised her shield…then sprang forward, leaping up just as they tried aiming downwards, diving on one unlucky woman and bearing her to the ground.

Bullets sparked off the back of her armour, then one of them – the one who'd been leading – jumped on her back, a knife in his hand and jabbing at her throat.

Athene didn't hesitate. Dropping her spear, she grabbed his right arm and yanked him off her back, snapping him by the arm like a child would snap a rope and smashing him into the last one of the black-clad intruders.

The remaining three charged as one. As Athene caught a blow on her shield, she felt the strength behind it and knew what these were.

The first one, a giant man with what looked like ferns all over his face, grabbed onto her shield and tried to pull it away. Gritting her teeth, Athene held on for dear life, then braced herself and wrenched the shield to the side, tugging her assailant with it…just as another man, this one with some kind of bizarre flowers sprouting from bare arms, punched hard. The fern-man screamed as his comrade's blow struck his unguarded back, and he fell limply to the ground. Then Athene charged forwards, shield and shoulder down, slamming into him and smashing him into the wall. Somehow, he still managed to slash at Athene's face with far-too-long nails, but her helmet protected her from the worst.

 _Lucky the guards agreed to leave. They'd never have stood up against these things._ She slammed a fist into his face once, twice, then he finally went limp.

There was a splash on her back, and the smell of something burning. As she whirled, the final of the plant-things spat at her. She brought her shield up, and heard a sizzling sound as the fluid hit the metal.

 _That's new._ She didn't linger on it, though: instead, she dropped and rolled towards where she'd dropped her spear. Before the creature could spit again, her spear lanced through its arm, then its foot. Then, finally, as it fell, she smashed the butt of the spear into its head, dropping it finally.

Yunus was struggling to stay conscious. His arm felt like it had been ripped clean off, and the pain was overwhelming his mind, past anything he'd ever felt before.

 _Six trained soldiers of the League, and she took them apart like they were nothing._ Only Isley's failed experiments had given her a real fight. The shame of that filled Yunus entirely, made him shrink in on himself.

 _One more thing to do._ The others were unconscious, but he could carry out his final duty. He bit down on the false tooth, feeling the cyanide capsule crunch and fill his mouth, then shut his eyes and waited for it to claim him.

"Mistress, this is home base." The voice sounded in Pamela Isley's earpiece. "There's two SWAT teams moving towards the labs."

"What?" The annoyance threatened to take her attention off the climb. "How far away are they?"

"Ten minutes, maximum."

 _Well, that's awkward._ Still…doable. "Roger that. We'll…"

"Hey there!" The voice floated down from further up the shaft, an obscenely cheerful intrusion to the calm order of Pamela's mind. "How we doin'? All good? Enjoyin' the exercise?"

 _What?_ "Where…" she began, gesturing to her soldiers and the three friends she'd taken with her.

"I'm right _heeeeereeeee!_ "

Before Pamela could attempt to formulate an adequate response, flashes of light and the sound of gunfire roared down from up above. A second later, one, two of her soldiers were falling back down the shaft. And then a figure appeared, hanging from a line and swinging around in a wide circle as it fired submachine guns. A third soldier fell. Then a fourth, as she tried to draw a bead on the attacker.

A few shots rippled up the shaft, but then the attacker was dropping fast on her line, dropping empty guns and swinging… _a baseball bat?_ For a second, the bizarreness affronted Pamela's sense of order, then she leapt off the side of the shaft, arms reaching out. A second later, the long, ivy vines in her arms grew out, and wrapped around the cable at the centre, pulling her up above the attacker. The attacker paused, drawing a pistol, but Pamela was moving again, using the vines to climb up higher and higher. She dived quickly through the open door, coming to her feet and breaking into a run.

 _I can do this myself. Easily._

"Red!" Eris' voice sounded in Athene's ear. "One of 'em got up the shaft, she's heading for the lab! I'm after her, but she's got a lead! She's one of the plant…things."

"I'm on my way!" Athene was already running as she heard that.

 _Get in there, take her down quickly, and leave before the cops arrive._

What the hell was going on, Laurel had no idea. All she knew was that road-blocks were being set up on the roads around S.T.A.R. Labs, and rumour was that SWAT had been sent in to the labs themselves.

 _Could it be more vigilante activity?_ She cursed softly, wishing that she could be closer in. Or, at least, know what was going on.

With an effort, she turned her attention to the next vehicle – an ambulance, with a sullen-looking driver. "ID, please," she said, gesturing once.

He handed it over without comment, and she looked. _Huh. Looks authentic._ "Where you headed?"

"The new burns unit at Central – we've got a patient with severe burns in the back."

Laurel chewed the inside of her mouth. She couldn't hold up something like this, but…the brass had been pretty insistent on checks being done. "OK…can I look in the back?"

"If you have to."

 _How'd_ you _get into the profession of caring, pal?_ Gesturing to Ted to keep an eye on the driver, Laurel walked around to the back and opened the doors. Two people – a doctor and a nurse, by the looks of them – looked up from beside a gurney. The gurney itself was occupied by a third figure, a blanket drawn up over its torso and its head and face swathed entirely in bandages. Laurel winced despite herself. _God – would you even want to be alive after that?_

"Can we help you?" the nurse, a tanned woman with long black hair, asked.

"Just a routine check, ma'am. You can go on your way now."

"Good – our patient's in a serious condition, any delay could be fatal for her."

The figure on the gurney twitched its – her – head briefly. _Christ – she's_ conscious _? I hope there's plenty of painkillers, at least._

Laurel hastily closed the doors again, then nodded to Ted who waved the ambulance on. As she turned to the next approaching vehicle, Laurel tried not to think too hard about how badly injured that woman must have been. Tried, and failed.

Mira moved her hand away from the gun she'd stashed under the gurney, and breathed out. Dealing with the officer would have been easy enough, but ambulances weren't the most inconspicuous vehicles, if they'd ended up being pursued it would have been…problematic.

"This can't be good," she said slowly. "We thought that the lab raid would be quickly in and out, but if they're locking down the roads…"

Hans nodded. "The authorities must know what's going on." Hopefully, the team would be in and out quickly even so, but any attention – before they were ready – risked their plans being disrupted.

 _I should be there._ But, instead…

On the gurney, Selina Kyle twitched slightly, and Mira heard her mumbling behind the bandages. "Instead," Mira growled, "I'm escorting _you,_ instead of putting a bullet in your head like you deserve. I certainly hope you're worth it."

Athene barreled through the double doors into the chamber where the Inferno Plant was being stored: a hot, humid room, with the smell of a jungle and with damp earth underfoot. The plant dominated the centre of the room, a huge, twining thing with orange and red leaves that stretched as big as Athene's head. A figure stood at the base, a woman with flaming red hair and wearing black trousers and a black tank top, revealing arms covered in twisting vines.

Vines…but Athene could tell that she wasn't damaged by it the way that the others she'd fought were. She looked…not just completely healthy, but _better_ than healthy.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the woman asked, patting the plant – apparently unconcerned about the toxic leaves. "Perfectly evolved to protect itself from predators, and if harvested responsibly, the extracts could cure so many… And what was the first thing humans did with it? They decided to try to stunt it. To maim it, and turn it into a houseplant." She shook her head. "We truly are a scourge, are we not?"

 _Ah. Well, there's her motivation._ Talking wasn't an option, not with an eco-terrorist.

Athene raised her shield and charged, wordlessly…stopped by a powerful blow right in the centre of her shield, a blow that made her rock back hard. As she staggered, vines shot out from the woman's arms, wrapping around her throat and squeezing powerfully.

In turn, Athene lifted her feet up and kicked out with both at once, her boots hitting the woman's midsection and knocking her backwards. The vines retracted, but the woman was back on her feet in an instant.

"You're tough," Athene managed, wheezing slightly.

"So are you," her opponent nodded once. "More than merely human. Were you born that way, were you made, or was this a fluke?"

Athene carefully began circling, balancing on the balls of her feet. "You seem to have been working like crazy to try to _make_ things like you and me. With less than pleasant results."

"True, unfortunately. But I'm hopeful of better results. And in the meantime…" She grinned hugely. " _I_ am entirely perfect."

She lunged forwards again, then dropped as Athene swung her shield, moving under the shield and shooting two lines of vines from her arms, wrapping around Athene's torso and right arm. Then with a tug, she yanked Athene from her feet and leapt on top of her. A second later, the vines about her torso began squeezing painfully, and more vines wrapped around her mouth and throat, and across her nostrils. She desperately tried to draw breath, or buck the woman off her, but she couldn't, red spots were appearing before her eyes, and…

Suddenly, the vines were gone, and her attacker was rolling to the side as Eris swung at her with her bat. But suddenly, the vines were wrapping about Eris…

 _Oh, no you don't._ Athene charged again, her fist catching her enemy on the side of her head, then a second blow to her stomach. Scooping her shield back up from the floor, she swung it with all her might, bowling the other woman from her feet.

She raised the shield, about to bring it down in a final blow, but suddenly her enemy was rolling away. Like lightning, she was behind Athene…and her vines lashed about Athene's throat, choking her again, and Athene felt pain flood her as the other woman's knee thudded into her back.

"Give me a lever big enough, and I'll move the world," the other woman whispered. "Or in this case, give me a fulcrum and I'll break your spine. And then I'll put your annoying little friend out of my misery."

Eris was back on her feet again and charging over, but the enemy was now behind Athene, keeping the tall woman between them as a shield. And Athene could feel her drawing her knees back for another stroke…

Before she could, Athene bent forward at speed, flipping her opponent right over her shoulders….just in time to meet Eris' swing. "Home run!" she cried gleefully.

Athene grinned. "That's my girl."

Somehow, against all odds, the other woman was staggering back upright, raising her fists…then pausing.

Suddenly, Athene could hear it. The wail of sirens, drawing closer and closer.

Their enemy smiled, then shrugged. "Today belongs to you, sad to say," she said. "I'll not make this night an even greater loss."

Drawing her hand back, she threw something to the ground. There was a flash, a cloud of smoke…then, as the smoke cleared, she was gone.

Eris cursed. "Oh, great! We're up against magic now?"

Athene could hear running feet in the distance. "Not magic. Just…good training. By someone who took pointers from ninja. But if we hurry, we might still…"

She paused. Those sirens did sound awfully close… "No. It'll take too long to search the building, and I don't want to fight my way past cops if I can help it. We'll go."

Eris' shoulders slumped. "Awwww…she got away, then."

"For now. In the meantime, we took down the ones she came here with…and we stopped them. And once our anonymous package reaches JCPD and the security wing here, I'd say that it'd take war to get this plant out."

Athene paused, then spoke up, Kate again. "And Harleen…that's the second time you've saved my ass in as many days. You're the best, you know that?"

Harleen preened. "Awww, thanks Red. But I'll always be there to do that." Her voice turned wicked. "Your ass is _way_ too pretty to let anything happen to it."

Laughing, Kate and she made their way out of the building, moving quickly and quietly.

Colonel Jacob Kane frowned as he reviewed the footage. Eventually, he spoke up again, cradling the scrambler phone to his head. "Yeah, it's bad. Twelve military-trained personnel, six metas, super-strength and other abilities." He shivered at the reports he'd seen on the metas. What had been done to them…

"Same as the ones who cropped up elsewhere?" Secretary Trevor sounded less than happy. To say nothing of sleep-deprived.

"That's right. Though they were led by one more – a woman, she escaped. She seemed far superior to the others encountered."

"And they were stopped by these other costumed individual?"

"That's right. 'Athene and 'Eris are the names trending on the web." Kane pursed his lips. "They were…singularly effective in taking these things down. And they saved us from what had the potential to be a major bioweapon threat."

There was a curse. "Goddamnit, Kane, the US government does _not_ condone vigilantism!"

Kane didn't say anything, just let the silence hang there until Trevor sighed. "All right…we do have certain, ah, _understandings_ with individuals whose talents are of use to the nation, but we can't have unsanctioned operatives muddying the waters."

"I agree entirely. But I think our plan here should be recruitment rather than containment. And in any case, Athene is thus far not a major threat." Kane's voice hardened. "These people, on the other hand…it was only her presence that stopped them. They're professional, they're well-armed and equipped, and they've got access to metas. We need to find them and shut them down before they try something big, somewhere we can't count on surprises to save the day."

"Agreed. Did we take any alive?"

"The metas, but the medics say they won't last the night. The normal humans were incapacitated rather than killed – though one of them got paralysed from a fall down an elevator shaft – but most of them took cyanide rather than be captured. JCPD got three alive, and I'm arranging to have them transferred to our custody."

"Good. Keep me posted." There was a sigh. "Now I have to tell the President we have super-powered terrorists operating on American soil."

"Better you'n me. Good luck."

Hanging up, Kane looked at the footage again. His frown intensified.

There was something very familiar about Athene, about the way she moved and fought…what was it?

 **Undisclosed Location**

"All of them lost?" Mira demanded, fighting to keep pace with Pamela Iseley.

"Indeed. Regrettable." The scientist was moving quickly, putting on a lab coat.

Mira could hardly believe her ears. " _Regrettable?_ They died for you and for the League! Yet you walk out of there, without even the prize we sought…"

She got no further, suddenly pinned to the wall and lifted from the ground by her throat. "Do _not_ question me." The mild tone of the scientist contrasted horribly with the iron grip about Mira's throat. "Every member of the League knows he or she must face the possibility of death for the Demon's Head. Loyal service is rewarded – creature comforts, or cover positions with access to luxuries and large disposable incomes – but even at the highest levels, even with the greatest rewards, every member of the League walks with death at their side. And are happy to give their lives for the prospect of a better world. Not the certainty, but for the prospect. Our mission tonight gave us that prospect, and…"

She got no further. Frowning, she raised her other hand to her head, activating a mobile headset. "Iseley, go." Suddenly, she smiled. "You did? Good. Well done. Now…can you get it back?" She nodded. "Good enough. You get yourselves to the Mexican border, and I'll handle the rest. Very good."

As she hung up, Mira stared. "What…"

"The team I sent to Costa Rica, to source another Inferno Plant and extract what had to be taken."

Mira blinked. "You…but then, why…"

"Oh, I'd have _preferred_ the one from the lab. The genetic work they'd done on it would have made its extracts easier to work with. But at a pinch, a wild unmodified one will do. I sent that team to Costa Rica as a backup, should the worst happen here." She laughed slightly. "Always have a Plan B, Mira. Remember that, and you'll have many years of service to the League."

Her face turned cold, and her grip tightened. "This will _not_ be the case if you question your superiors," she murmured, in a voice of ice.

Abruptly, she dropped Mira, hard on the concrete floor. "Now, go and see to your duties. Of which you have many, now that Yunus is dead. I will be conducting work of great importance, for the League…and my own personal interests. Do _not_ disturb me, save on matters of the gravest importance."

So saying, she stalked away, leaving Mira to pick herself up. Mira glared after her, glared after the woman who'd thrown the ones sworn to fight for her away so casually.

 _The Demon's Head says to obey you, so I will…but if that ever changes, I'll kill you myself._

Alone in darkness, Selina Kyle forced herself to calm. Or tried, at least.

She tried to take stock of things. She was completely blind, her wrists were cuffed to the sides of the gurney, and between the bandages and the thick piece of gauze that someone – that bitch of a 'nurse', she was willing to bet – had stuffed in her mouth, speech was impossible, but she still had hearing and smell. And she'd been aware of a journey…first through the more crowded parts of the city, then into the suburbs, then to somewhere even quieter.

 _The same way that I went before, in the blacked-out SUV that took me to our first meeting._ And the smell of this old bunker, the reek of ancient concrete and metal and dusty electronics, it was all too familiar.

 _I know where I am, and I know who's taken me. But why? Was she_ that _pissed I welshed on a contract?_

Abruptly, she heard footsteps, and she smelt that smell again – the plant smell. _She's here. OK. Keep it together. Bide your time, wait for an opportunity…_

A second later, she felt slim fingers on the bandages, undoing them and carefully unwrapping them. They started from her chin up, then paused to gently take the gauze out, then continued. As they reached her eyes and bared them, Selina saw their owner standing over her.

"Ms Iseley," she said, voice rock-steady.

"Ms Kyle," came the even reply.

Selina squinted slightly. There was a large, painfully-bright light on the ceiling, one that was making it hard for her to make out any detail about where she was. "Not the circumstances I envisioned us meeting under again, if I'm honest."

"Likewise. Though if you'd followed through on your contract… As it stands, I and my associates deserve compensation."

Selina sighed. "I told you: I'd refund everything…"

"You did indeed. However, what you must understand is that for me, money is only a means to an end. What I care about is results. You cheated me of the result of seeing the target dead, so…compensation. You'll give me results of a different kind."

"What…like an assassination for free."

Iseley smiled. "Better even than that."

She reached down and pressed a control on the gurney, lifting it up. Now that she wasn't looking directly at the light, Selina could see more details. Stainless steel racks and trays everywhere, a sink…

Then she fought down a scream as she saw pictures on the wall ahead of her. Pictures of…she could hardly bear to look at them. People, horribly malformed people, plants seeming to sprout from flesh, moulding with it in some weird fusion.

A second later, she had to fight down another scream as her erstwhile employer rolled up a sleeve on the lab coat she was wearing – a detail that made Selina's brain freeze all by itself, before she saw what was now left revealed.

"The result of a lab accident," Ms Iseley said, as the vines in her arm twitched and twined. "An accident that I've tried any number of times to duplicate. Tried, and failed. When that didn't work, I tried more direct surgical and genetic intervention. And while I was able to create results – promising results, in many ways, stronger and faster than the human norm – they tended not to last very long."

Selina swallowed, her throat utterly dry. "B-but why?"

"To save the world," Iseley whispered. "To save a portion of humanity, and by saving it, to make it _better._ To turn mankind from a scourge, a virus, into something that can truly live in one with the natural world."

She straightened. "As I said, up until now, my efforts have been a failure. But now, I believe I have a solution. But I was reluctant to try it, without a resilient test subject. She smiled. Not an evil smile, but rather a satisfied, _happy_ smile, one that was somehow far more terrifying than any sadistic gloating could ever be. "And then…then, I found you. A human who's already better, already faster and possessed of many hidden talents. In other words, the _perfect_ candidate."

She turned away, picking up a pair of gloves and snapping them on, then wheeling a rattling tray close.

And for the first time in a long time, Selina Kyle was afraid.


	8. Chapter 4

**The Slab, Jump City  
**  
"Lift up your arms." The prison guard said as he waved a metal stick up Lex's sides underneath his arms.

"You're good to go." The man said, and Lex walked timidly through a secondary metal detector. He was in the Slab, one of the cheaper prisons in the area. It was a mix of blacks, greys, and silvers. He walked down the hallway, taking note of the dust and grime everywhere and feeling pride swell within his heart. It was a new feeling, to be sure. That feeling that he had won.

"Oh god, what did I do to deserve this." The bald-headed man said as he saw Lex approaching through the cell door. Lex's face remained blank, awkward as he ever was.

"Dear old dad, are you comfortable?" He said, by way of greeting his incarcerated father. Lionel grit his teeth, glaring death at his son from his spot where sat on a glorified rock slab attached to the wall of his cell.

"You pathetic little worm, did you just come here to gloat?" Lionel said with a voice like gravel. His eyes were sharp, sharper than they had been in a while. Lex's face remained unmoved, though his lip did appear to have a slight pout.

"Why wouldn't I? I bested you." Lex said triumphantly but not as sure as he should have. Lionel noticed the apprehension.

"You didn't do anything that I didn't let you do." Lionel boasted, staring at Lex.

"Really? The company, my birthright, is mine now. And you almost threw it away on your little side-dealings. There's plenty of good money to be made in honest work." Lex said, hands on his hips. Lionel stared at him as if in shock for a second before leaning back slowly and letting out a little bit of chuckling.

"Your birthright? You've got to be kidding. That's always been your problem, Lex. You think you're owed everything and you're not willing to work, get down and do what's necessary." Lionel explained with a wild grin. Lex allowed himself a frown.

"Really? Because I did enough to put you in that cell." Lex said. Lionel shook his head.

"You didn't claim your birthright, you sold it to Oliver Queen to stick it to dear old dad. And you try to talk to me about honest money?" Lionel let out a bitter laugh and Lex raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't think I knew who was under the hood, did you?" Lionel looked at his son. Lex shook his head ever so slightly.

"There's a lot you don't know. Like the fact that there is something infinitely more important than money, and that my son is why you will always fail." Lionel said. Lex frowned, unable to think of anything to say. This was not going how he had planned. Lionel was not following the script Lex had imagined the conversation following.

"Surprised? I've been feeling better now. Realized that I haven't been thinking clearly for a long time. But now it's all clear to me. My mind was tampered with by that monstrosity that you convinced me to keep. It escaped when your idiot friends came after me. I know it will remember the both of us. And while I'll die in here, at least I'll know I'm a free man and not some errand boy for Oliver Queen!" Lionel was yelling now, having stood up halfway through the conversation and grasping the bars of the door tightly.

He was close enough that his spittle was landing on Lex's face. His eyes briefly shifted past Lex and widened. His fire died down a bit and he backed up slowly, sighing and plopping back down on his rock slab. Lex was breathing heavily, his heart beating quickly in a typical panic attack. He turned and looked behind him, eyes widening but in too much shock to scream. Lex backed up against the door as he eyed the creature standing at the end of the hallway.

"Please, I can explain!" Lex fell to his knees, tears already in his eyes. Behind him his father Lionel shook his head in disgust and walked towards the cell bars against as the green skinned monstrosity floated towards them down the hall, it's limbs bent at insane angles and twin glowing red eyes glaring at them from a strangely shaped head.

"Leave the damn welp. I'll show you how a man faces death." Lionel said. The creature seemed to pause for a moment, before moving past the fearful wreck that Lex had quickly become and passing through the bars of Lionel's cell like they weren't there.

"Lex? You disgust me."

 **Mountain of the Gods**

"Again!" Shayera said, pointing with her morningstar at a nearby boulder which was marked little cracks and burn marks. A green blast flew where she pointed, albeit very slowly, and touched the rock.

"This is a waste of time, it's not working." John Stewart said with a grunt as he lowered his hand with a gasping breath. They had been at this for many hours, days, and weeks. Ever since they had gotten off of the Amazo. Shayera floated over to John faster than one would think possible, her small but muscular arm grabbing him by the throat and lifting him into the air.

"Remember our deal, mortal. The reason you have that ring is so that you can help me find my husband!" Shayera said, glaring death at John. He raised his hands and his eyebrows, looking not so much alarmed as annoyed. Shayera slowly set him down and he coughed, rubbing his throat where she had grabbed him.

"I remember very well, Hawkwoman. I'm merely saying that this particular training doesn't seem to be working. Are you sure you know how to get this thing up and running?" He asked, and not for the first time. Shayera sighed, turning and looking at the horizon.

"To tell you the truth I haven't seen a Lantern since my youth. I've told you mine is a war-like planet, not suited for the peacekeepers that are the lanterns. Especially when we have no desire to lay down our arms. But I don't know what else to do. I have to find my husband." Shayera explained, giving John more of the story than he had heard before. He cleared his throat, placing a hand on his fellow warrior's shoulder.

"I know, Shayera. We will find your husband. I will stand by my word." John said in response. Shayera nodded.

"I appreciate your sense of honor, John Stewart. Now lets try again."

 **The Slab**

"JCPD!" Laurel Lance said as she turned the corner onto the last cell block. She was alone, her partner Ted still in the hospital after getting attacked by a giant plant monster last week. She was among a large group of officers sweeping through the prison as there were reports of a break-in and a section of guards stopped responding to their radios.

Laurel and crew had found three guards on the ground, not dead but in an almost coma-like state that so far they were unable to break them out of.

"Please! Please help me!" She heard a voice from the end of the hallway. Laurel turned in that direction, where her flashlight illuminating a pale scrawny figure in a lab coat. Laurel recognized him easy enough.

"Mr. Luthor." Laurel identified the scared lad quickly. Laurel allowed her light to drift slightly to the left. Despite herself she let out a scream at what she saw.

The cell behind Lex was covered in blood.

 **The Arrowcave**

"And it just obliterated him, just like that?" Oliver asked skeptically, leaning back in a nearby chair as he stared at Lex who still had bloodstains on his labcoat. Lex nodded.

"Mind powers aren't exactly normal, Lex." Barbara joined the conversation as she spun around in her chair. Lex looked nervously between the redhead and Oliver, unsure of what to say.

"There's a lot of stuff we've seen that 'isn't exactly normal'." Helena said as she entered the room in work-out clothes, sweaty from exercising in the adjoining room.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we just believe everything we hear." Barbara said irritably. Oliver stood up and placed himself between them.

"Ladies. We're getting off topic here. Someone killed Lex's dad and while I'm not a fan of the guy, it's still a murder. Plus whatever did it could easily come after Lex, and then we lose a big resource in Jump City." Oliver said. Lex's face twitched slightly at the compliment.

"Any ideas on what it was or how to track it?" Oliver asked, looking directly at Lex now. Lex leaned back, pondering for a moment.

"There is one thing, a sort of reader that I think picks up the spectral trail of the creature. I noticed one near the container where my father kept the creature; but it's in impound with lots of his other stuff." Lex explained.

"I'd rather not break into a police station." Oliver responded quickly; both of the girls nodded in agreement.

"Fair enough. That leaves one other place that might have it." Lex explained. The group looked at him intently.

"Star Labs."

 **Big Belly Burger**

"Just water for now." Leonard Snart said as the waitress quickly stalked away. He was at one of the popular joints in Jump City, doing some research. This city had been lighting up on his organization's radar recently - first Mick Rory had been killed on a security job, and now Selina had also gone dark in this same city.

"Snart, right?" A man said from behind him. Though hearing his own name spoken so easily in public was a big alarm to Leonard, he didn't let any of that show on his face as he turned and saw a skinny gaunt looking fellow in a dark purple suit.

"Special Agent Napier, ARGUS." The gaunt man stuck his hand out and Leonard briefly eyed his gaudy tan and didn't shake. Napier smiled after a pause, gesturing to the seat across from Snart.

"May I sit?" Napier asked. Leonard shrugged in response, his face a total mask. Napier sat down and moments later the waitress arrived with Leonard's water and surprisingly enough a milkshake for the Special Agent. Napier took a few moments to sip on the shake dramatically while Leonard began calculating how to break his neck.

"Napier. Get to the point, please." Snart said. He was not amused at how his organization was being tampered with recently. Some uppity ARGUS agent wasn't making things any better.

"Ah, yes." Napier made a loud smacking sound as he finished a big gulp of his milkshake, "I had heard you were in town, and I thought we might have some mutual interests." Leonard raised an eyebrow, he wasn't exactly up to date on the situation in the city except the latest updates from Selina and Mick before they both cut off contact.

"It would certainly depend on the price tag." Leonard responded before Napier could say anything else. Jack was a known factor, in the sense that ARGUS and the organization Leonard was apart of had much contact over the years - both as friend and foe. A black market military outfit was both a boon and a liability to a national black ops agency like ARGUS. At times it was hard to tell who was using who.

"Depends on how much trouble we get into. But don't worry too much. I'm actually here on ARGUS business so they'll cover half my fee. If your… organization would be kind to match that, then I can see what we can accomplish together." Jack replied, smiling widely at the thought of money. Leonard shrugged noncommittally, he was here on personal business to follow up on Rory's death and Selina's disappearance, so he could afford to pay Napier a small sum.

"That could certainly be arranged, provided you prove yourself useful. Now, what's your lead?" Leonard asked as he leaned forward.

 **STAR Labs**

"It's not often that we get such high profile visitors." Doctor Stone said as he exited an elevator from one of the top floors of STAR Labs, whose primary building occupied a skyscaper on the Northwest side of Jump City. It was technically outside of the city limits, serving as something of a centerpoint between Jump and the closest other city which together formed something of a Metroplex.

"Well, STAR Labs is prestigious enough that I thought we should come in person so that our offer is not laughed at." Oliver Queen replied with a smile as he reached out a hand to shake Silas. Silas smiled, blinking thoughtfully as he shook first Oliver and then Lex's hand. Behind both of them stood Barbara Gordon.

"I recognize these two men, but I don't think we've gotten acquainted yet." Silas said as he stepped past the two businessmen to shake Barbara's hand. She smiled, unaccustomed to receiving much notice, especially with the rich and famous crowd she typically orbited.

"Barbara Gordon." She introduced herself with a smile. Silas nodded.

"Ah, a Gordon. You're with friends, then, Ms. Gordon." Silas said. Barbara tilted her head in a small question.

"My son, Victor, went to GSU on a scholarship your father started when he was Mayor of Gotham City." Silas said. Barbara smiled, blushing a little bit. Even Oliver looked over at her as if he had never heard this information before.

"Well, he always wanted to help people. I just hope I can do the same. That's why we're here." Barbara said, sensing an opportunity she stepped to the front of the group and smiling gracefully.

"I'm sure he didn't need it. The son of a man as smart as you." Oliver chimed in. Silas smiled.

"He never did like the sciences as much as I did. He was big into football, before the car accident. While I was able to replace his legs with bionics that appear completely human, his mother and I forbid him from pursuing athletics after that because it would give him an unfair advantage. All other things considered, my son has a good head on his shoulder regarding ethics." Silas explained.

"I would love to hear about that, if you can show us." Lex said in response. Silas looked between the trio.

"Well, my lab has been on lockdown after a break in last week. But for a Gordon I'm willing to see what I can do to for you folk." Silas said.

"I'd like to thank you for meeting us at all, Dr. Stone. I understand you might be reticent given the history of our company's." Oliver gestured between himself and Lex.

"We are committed to rebuilding our image, I assure you. That's why Mr. Queen has taken over my late father's company." Lex chimed in. Silas nodded gravely.

"Yes, I heard about your father this morning. While I certainly didn't agree with what he did, you have my sincere condolences." Silas said. Lex nodded gratefully and there was a beat.

"So, could we have a tour?" Oliver Queen said bombastically, gesturing at the lab.

It didn't take long for Barbara to 'suddenly' need to rush off to the restroom; a ploy almost too simple as she quickly began hacking her way through various levels of security at STAR as she tried to make her way to the basement where the scanner they were searching for was supposedly kept.

 **STAR Labs Basement**

"That's weird." Johnny said quietly as he turned from his computer to look at Harleen who was leaning against a nearby desk chewing bubblegum. She popped the bubble she had formed, hopping off the desk and approaching his desk where he had been studying samples of a pollen she and Kate had collected.

"You got something?" She asked hopefully. But Johnny wasn't looking at the machine scanning the samples, but rather typing away furiously at the computer. He looked focused, worried even.

"What's going on?" She asked. But he was in the zone, and continued typing. Suddenly the elevator across from them beeped. Since she was not supposed to be down here, Harley slinked away, melding into the shadows of the STAR Labs basement. From her hiding spot she could only see Johnny.

"W-what are you doing down here? It's a r-restricted area." Johnny said to the figure, apparently alarmed. Harley grasped at the gun on her waist, frowning.

"Just taking the tour. I didn't realize this was restricted. Can't see why, though. Everything looks pretty mundane here." The voice responded cooly. Johnny's face paused for a moment; he loved to brag about his equipment. Harley tried to shift quietly so she could see the intruder.

"I promise it's all really cool stuff." He told the stranger excitedly, his face lighting up. Harley tried to decide what she should do.

"I'm sure it is. But before you show me, maybe your friend can step out?" The figure said; Harley's eyes widened as she heard the sound of a gun cocking, clearly pointed in her direction. She looked at Johnny's face, frozen in fear and she stepped out with her hands raised.

"Listen, bub. No need to get crazy in here." She said as she stepped into the open and eyed up what was in fact two intruders. One a tall man with black and gray hair, wearing a long flowing green cape and holding a long Middle Eastern looking sword. The other was an odd looking fellow with bulging muscles and gray skin.

"Well that's up to you, young lady." The sword guy said, while the grey guy motioned with his right hand towards the desk. Harley looked between them and Johnny, pausing as the sword guy raised a bushy eyebrow. Her hands were tied - well except for the emergency button she had pressed before she stepped out. But Red was following a lead on the other side of town. She just had to stall these guys.

"Alrighty then!." She said as she skipped over to Johnny, placing her pistol on the table and placing herself partially between Johnny and the two men with a fierce look in her eye. The sword guy leaned slightly to look at Johnny, who was staring silently at the floor.

"Now, if you'd be so kind as to open up your vault." The sword guy said. Johnny was quiet for a moment, before he finally began typing on his computer. He silently noticed that someone else was hacking their way to the basement as well. Hopefully not more of these guys. Soon there was a hiss and the special projects vault opened on the other side of the room.

"Stay here." The sword guy said as he turned with a flourish and emptied the vault. Harley stared at the gray guy who was mouth breathing. If Johnny could lock the sword guy in the vault, she could probably take this muscled guy. But how could she tell Johnny that? Plus there was always the chance he could get hurt in a potential altercation - and that was a thought that she couldn't stomach.

Hurry up with those reinforcements, Red. Harley thought to herself as she glared silently at the gun wielding man. Behind him she saw the elevator door slide open silently. She raised an eyebrow. Kate couldn't have gotten here that fast.

"It was pleasure doing business with you." The sword guy said as he exited the vault with some sort of equipment in his hands. He set it down on a nearby table, and cracked his knuckles. That sent red flags off for Harley.

"Come on, Red." She said under her breath as she saw the sword guy begin reaching for his sword.

"Kiaaaa!" The gray guy flew forward as a foot connected to the back of his head and behind him appeared a lithe redheaded woman wearing glasses and the sweater.

"Not the redhead I was looking for but who's complaining!" Harley said as she pushed Johnny to the ground under his desk and reached for her gun, quick-drawing on the sword guy. He brought his cape to bear, and miraculously it deflected the hail of bullets that Harley angrily direct his way. Must be some kind of special material. Meanwhile the other redhead quickly got distracted as the gray guy spun around, trying to punch her midsection. She luckily jumped backwards in the nick of time.

While Barbara back flipped and kicked the muscle guy in the chin, she still fell down as the horrid creature grabbed her by the ankle. Meanwhile Ra's didn't advance on Harley, but rather grabbed whatever doohickey he had stolen and retreated towards the elevator. Blockbuster followed suit, picking up an entire table and using it to provide cover as he and Ra's retreated to the elevator.

"It would be unwise to follow me, heroine. I know where your friend lives." Ra's said before the elevator door closed and he and Blockbuster disappeared. Harley fired one last shot at the closed door, just to let off some steam. There was an awkward beat, and she walked around the desk to help the new redhead onto her feet.

"Uh, thanks?"


	9. Chapter 4 Part 2

**STAR Labs Parking Lot**

"You're sure that's what it was?" Oliver asked Harley, who nodded once again in annoyance. The billionaire whom the new redhead (Barbara was her name) had apparently been working for had grilled her over the events that had happened in the basement. He grunted in frustration, looking between his scrawny friend (Lex) and Barbara.

"There goes our only lead." Oliver said quietly. Harley looked over his shoulder nonchalantly as she saw Kate's car pull quietly into the parking lot, keeping a distance. She felt a lot safer now, though.

"Don't tell me you were there to steal that thing, too." Harley said, putting a hand on her hips. Oliver gave her a sheepish grin in response. Harley sighed.

"Well, I guess I can't complain too much since Barbie here saved Johnny. Thanks again, babe." Harley looked at Barbara, who blushed slightly, now. She turned to look at Oliver, staring him up and down.

"Given your build and the way you're talking, I'm going to guess you're one of the local vigilantes?" Harley said. Oliver looked at her sheepishly.

"Oh, don't be so surprised. The money, the muscles. It only makes sense. Lucky for you my gal and I are also here on a crime-fighting mission. Maybe we can help each other?" Harley asked. Oliver gave a quick glance to his team, before nodding.

"Okay, so spill." She said. Of course, nothing else got to be discussed as shots began ringing out across the parking lot.

"Oh, great!" Was all Harley could say as she and the others dove for cover. Luckily Johnny had elected to stay inside and finish her work day.

"Two snipers!" Oliver yelled to the general group as he groped towards what must've been his car. Harley let out a wild laugh as she hopped up and returned fire, quickly realizing that there were, in fact, two snipers in the parking lot. She smiled as she saw a silver flash exit from Kate's car and head towards one of the sniper nests.

"Come on, guy! Let's show these assholes who's boss!" Harley said as the Green Arrow tumbled out of Oliver's car, already returning fire to one of the sniper nests. Barbara and Lex got into the aforementioned car and locked the doors, battening down the hatches.

 **Skyscaper, Jump City**

"There he is." Leonard thought with a smile as he saw the Green Arrow appear in the parking lot. He wasn't sure which vigilante had killed Rory, but he knew that it was definitely someone related to Arrow if not Arrow himself. His smile quickly turned to a frown as there was a beep on his wrist, informing him that someone was coming up - and fast.

He turned in time to see a silver clad figure emerge from the hallway behind him, ice falling all around her as she had apparently gotten through his various traps, quicker than he had anticipated. He decided to change things up, turning and using his grenade launcher as the monstrous being that was walking towards him.

Athene deflected the grenade with her shield, launching it into a nearby wall which quickly disintegrated. Realizing that he was being outplayed very quickly, Leonard activated his final card as he backed off of his own ledge, his rappel activating as he descended the side of the building quickly. As he got far enough away in a few seconds, claymores went off where he had been perched as the silver clad figure narrowly missed him. The explosions were followed up with protective fire as Napier covered for him from a nearby building.

"Maybe you're worth the bill after all, Napier." Leonard thought aloud as he landed on a walkway and began running. He didn't turn to look behind him as the silver clad figure jumped multiple stories down and landed with a crunch right behind him.

"I was ready to fight a guy with bow and arrows, not this shit." Leonard muttered aloud as he made a long jump from the ledge to a nearby highway where he had parked a motorcycle. He had barely traveled twenty feet on it when the silver clad figure ran past his vehicle and caused him to run into her shield. He fell off, losing sight of things for a moment as he was rocked around and eventually found himself being held over the edge of the highway by the monster woman who had attacked him.

"I'm getting really tired of you assholes trying to kill my girlfriend." The woman said with a glare at Leonard. He was pretty sure this was the end of the line for him. His face remained calm as he resigned himself to death, more amazed at how it happened than afraid of the impending blackness he would face.

But Leonard didn't die, but rather found himself suspended in the air, hanging by his wrists as they were handcuffed to the highway railing.

"I hope you like prison food, asshole." Athene said as she leapt from the highway to the building where Napier was currently battling the Green Arrow and that other hooded chick.

 **Kord-Palmer Technologies Building, Jump City**

By the time Athene had launched herself to the top of the building, Eris was sitting on the ground rubbing her head. Athene rushed over to her, but quickly realized that she was relatively fine.

"That guy was crazy. Took the Arrow dude hostage." Eris explained. Athene scanned the environment, definitely seeing signs of a struggle. Probably booby traps similar to the ones that Snart had set at the other tower. She was glad Harley was safe.

"Did you get a good look at him?" She asked. Harley nodded and they both turned to look at the parking lot below.

"They know something about all the stuff that's been going on. One of them saved me 'n Johnny down at STAR. I couldn't do anything without risking him." Harley said

"So you're saying we should help them?" Athene asked.

J **ump City Sewers  
**  
"Would you believe I got into this business for the money? I'm actually a pretty reasonable guy, if you tell me what I want to know." Jack Napier said as he slowly sharpened a metal object at the end of a cord.

Oliver slowly came to his senses as he found himself strapped to a chair in a puddle of water, quickly identifying his location as somewhere in the sewers. He tried to move but found that he was tied pretty tightly. And the locator by his wrist seemed to have disappeared as well.

"Your GPS trackers are gone, obviously. I'm not an amateur." Napier said as he slowly approached Oliver with the metal object. He gave Oliver a sick smile. Oliver kept a stone cold face.

"Not in the talking mood, eh? Well don't worry, I'm sure we will come to an understanding soon enough. You see, I'm not here for you. I'm looking for one John Stewart." Jack explained, producing a photo of Stewart during his time in the military.

"I see you recognize the face. That's a good start. I know you two began contact a little over a month ago, and I suspect you know a way to contact our missing soldier." Jack explained calmly as he paced around Oliver.

"What do you want with John!?" Oliver asked. Jack's face suddenly went from calm to deadly as he lunged at Oliver, stabbing him with the metal object.

"I ask the questions here, buddy boy!" Jack said, rubbing his hands together and retreating from the small pool of water that Oliver found himself trapped in. He saw that the line extended to a small car battery on a wooden table.

"Now, how do I contact John Stewart?" Jack asked. Oliver simply spit in his direction.

"Do what you've got to do, asshole." Oliver said, eyes fierce. Jack didn't need any more motivation, and he quickly slammed down the nearby lever. Oliver grit his teeth in pain as he felt electricity pass through him, amplified by the water around him. It lasted for a few moments.

"That's only half power. A full jolt will give you a heart attack. Would you like to see how far we can go?" Jack boasted with a smile as Oliver caught his breath. Jack hopped into the water, punching Oliver a few times in the face to get his attention again.

"Now talk!" Jack yelled at him.

 **Mountain of the Gods**

J'onn was angry, a veritable force of nature as he prowled the Earth searching for that one thing that gave him life. He could barely remember a time when he was a Green Lantern, much less even longer before that when his world was engulfed in flames. He had had a bad feeling about responding to the distress message in his former home system, but duty was duty.

J'onn had paid dearly for not listening to his gut. But he'd like to think that Lionel Luthor paid even more dearly for the years of torture that he had inflicted on J'onn. Were he not a Green Lantern by code, he would've eradicated this entire planet just as his own had been eradicated just a planet away.

He saw them from afar, his alien biology allowing him to sneak up on the duo much quicker than anyone else could've. He identified the one as a Thanagarian warrior, watching over a human wielding J'onn's ring. His red eyes flashed with rage as he came upon them, a tentacle lashing out and grabbing Shayera by the base of her wings - a Thanagarian weak point - while is "humanoid" shape appeared quickly in front of John and pulled the ring right off of his finger.

"What the!?" John reacted quickly enough (even as Shayera fell to the ground in pain from J'onn's hold) lashing out with a fist which passed through J'onn's now incorporeal shape. J'onn flashed a grin as his ring once again became his, an aura forming around him as he truly unlocked it's potential.

However, that aura and the ring itself quickly turned red reflecting J'onn's boiling hot rage. He launched Shayera into a nearby wall and produced a spiky construct which he brought down upon John, who luckily rolled away at the last second. This allowed J'onn to see the red construct on the ground. Red, not green. His eyes widened, and he turned and his aura changed once again as he brought up a yellow shield to ward off a reprisal from Shayera.

"Have I been corrupted?" J'onn said aloud as he allowed the ring to slip off of his finger as he took a few steps backward. Shayera ignored his change in demeanor, launching towards him again. But she passed through him like he wasn't there, and he didn't give much focus to her as he allowed horror to overtake him.

"My captivity has changed me. Not in body but in spirit. I no longer deserve the mantle of Green Lantern." J'onn thought aloud. He was losing control of himself, certainly. This despair even permeated the air around him, allowing the emotion to pass the John and Shayera.

"Wait, Shayera. I think he's done." John said as he slowly approached where J'onn had dropped the ring. John returned it to his own finger, and J'onn saw that it glowed brightly.

"You know something about this thing, don't you?" John asked. Shayera floated to his side.

"Quit talking and start fighting!" She encouraged him. Thanagarians were too much of a stereotype, in J'onn's opinion.

"He might be able to help us, is what I'm saying." John said forcefully, although his stance was still guarded against J'onn. J'onn finally looked up from his hand, finally focusing. Help. That was something he could do. Or at least something he used to do. When he deserved the ring. He remembered Lionel's face as he had obliterated him, the fear he had felt coming off of his son. He no longer felt justice, but rather remorse at his cold blooded killing. He needed to atone.

"It is the least I could do, after what just happened. I'm… sorry. I haven't been myself lately." J'onn said. John and Shayera paused, looking from one to the other. Finally they nodded.

"I came here because my husband has disappeared. I know a Green Lantern came here some time ago responding to a distress signal. I thought you might lead me to him." Shayera explained. J'onn smiled, nodding.

"That is an easy one, my child. You see, the signal came not from Earth, but the moon. I was captured while passing the Earth, shot out of the air by nefarious ones who wished to capture me." J'onn explained. Shayera didn't need much more than that, she launched into the air quickly breaking the sound barrier and completely disappearing from sight. John looked up and then over at J'onn.

"I, uh, don't know how to fly." John said sheepishly. J'onn laughed.

"You will learn in due time. She is a Thanagarian. A warrior. She will be fine." J'onn said. John nodded, agreeing.

"What will you do now?" John asked him as J'onn had already begun floating away. J'onn turned to look at him, sensing something in his successor.

"Do what I must to atone. Although I think you might've meant that question for yourself. You carry with yourself the responsibility of the Green Lantern, now a protector of the weak and innocent. I can see that suits you well. So you tell me, Lantern. What is your purpose?" J'onn asked sagely. By the determined look on John's face, he already knew the answer.

 **Jump City Sewers**

"This thing is actually pretty cool." Eris said as she looked up from the scanner that Lex and Barbara had loaned to the Dynamic Duo to track down Green Arrow using a GPS chip that he had inserted subdermally so that Oracle could always track him. That had seemingly taken them to a dead end in Old Town.

After that it had taken a bit of detective work but the team had figured out that Napier had retreated to the sewers, hence the seeming dead end. From there they had found that there were isolated portions in the Old City sewer from before the 70s, disconnected from the rest of the modern sewage system and perfect hiding spot for ne'er do wells.

Athene didn't waste time slamming her way through a few feet of concrete and she dropped loudly into the sewers below. As the team had found during their research, there was not really any suitable hiding spots and she and Eris had already discovered the only entrance blocked off with a bomb that was certainly a worrying yield. While Harley disabled the bomb with over the comm help from Lex and Barbara, Athene followed the sound of Oliver's screams of pain.

Jack looked up from his little torture session as Athene appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He reached for a button in his coat.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll activate my bomb and destroy half of Old Town!" Jack threatened. Athene simply smiled - the bomb had been deactivated just a minute ago. She walked calmly towards Jack as he continued to threaten and with a single punch knocked him out cold.

"And another one bites the dust." Athene said as Jack Napier fell over, battered and bruised but still breathing. That last part was regrettable, Athene thought as she surveyed the horror scene of torture that Jack had inflicted upon Green Arrow. For his part, Oliver didn't comment on it as Eris released him from his bonds and he stood up.

"Thank you. I don't believe we've met. My name is Oliver Queen." Green Arrow approached Kate, offering his hand to shake. She raised an eyebrow, certainly impressed that he would get right to business like this. She grabbed his hand.

"Athene, for now." She replied.

"I understand you might be able to help with a case of mine." Green Arrow said with a smile.

 **Big Belly Burger**

Helena had decided to take the day off, visit her bodyguard Sal. Sal was like a father to Helena, he had been the only other survivor of the attack that had destroyed her entire family. While the Bertinelli Mob had certainly paid Sal well in the heyday, he was not obligated to stay on after that incident and he easily could've found better pay elsewhere.

But Sal wasn't about money. He was about loyalty and blood. Two things that went very deep for him. So, he had supported her through the years, helping train her in the ways of fighting and when he could teach her no more escorting her around the world to learn from the finest living weapons on the planet. He was everything to her, in more ways than she could express at times.

"Sorry I'm late." Helena said as she swung into their usual booth. The menu at the opposite side of her usual table dropped down, revealing not Sal but someone else. Helena gasped.

"Helena, it's been a long time. It's time to repay a debt you owe me." Ra's al Ghul said with a wicked smile.


	10. Chapter 5

**Undisclosed Location…**

"I thought I wasn't to be disturbed!" Pamela Ivy whirled from her operating table on the person who had just entered the room. However her eyes quickly went from fiery to normal as she saw who it was. She quickly took a knee.

"Master, my apologies." Ivy said as Ra's al Ghul casually approached her. He only smiled, motioning for her to rise.

"My child, all is well. Your work here has been astounding." Ra's informed her. Ivy noticed a figure behind Ra's, in the shadows.

"I have merely come to make sure that you continue uninterrupted and provide whatever assistance I can." Ra's told her, and he motioned for the figure in the shadows to move forward. She easily recognized Lionel Luthor, one of her counterparts in this endeavor. She narrowed her eyes - she had not particularly liked Luthor, to be honest.

"You are truly a champion of The Cause." Ivy said, voice measured carefully as she looked back at the Demon Head. He only offered a large smile.

"Nothing shall stop us, my children. Now get to work, our time of glory approaches." Ra's said as he turned to leave the room. Lionel didn't move for a moment, but then slowly moved over to Ivy. She watched the Demon Head leave.

"What will you do, Master?" She asked. He paused at the door, turning and smiling a wicked grin.

"Provide a distraction for you."

 **Arrowcave.**

"Ugh, it never ends!" Oliver said as he looked up from where he and Kate had been going over the facts of the case.

"Well, you might want to hear about this one." Barbara said as she spun her chair around and pointed to one of the bigger screens as a map came up of a building.

"The Slab's been breached!?" Oliver stated the obvious as he went for his outfit. Kate looked over at Harley and the two began suiting up as well.

"Where's Helena? Is the new gear ready?" Oliver asked a flurry of questions as he quickly put on his vigilante attire. Lex walked into the room on cue with a small bag in his hands.

"New gear is ready!" Lex said dutifully as Oliver snatched the bag. Meanwhile Barbara was staring at the screen.

"It says here that Helena is already at the Slab."

 **The Slab.**

"Never thought I'd see us on the same side, Bertinelli." Blockbuster said as he finished punching his way through a brick wall. Behind him Huntress finished off the last bodyguard with a roundhouse kick to the face. She scowled over at the man who used to be Santo Cassamento.

"The irony isn't lost on me. Now get to work." Huntress verbally cracked the whip. Blockbuster responded, moving forward into the next hallway where multiple cells were lined up. He was quickly pelted with bullets, but the grotesque blue skinned creature simply raised an arm and deflected them off of his rocky skin like pesky little specks of rain. Huntress paused for a moment, indecisive.

"Don't forget about Sal, now." Huntress thought aloud with a grimace. She dove through the opening, using Blockbuster as cover as she shot arrows from her crossbow around him, impaling the various guards at weak spots in their armor. By the time she and Blockbuster got to the right cell, she had taken down most of the guards.

"Huh… that's new." Leonard Snart said as he looked up from the book he was reading. Blockbuster quickly went to work opening the bars of the cell, waking up the snoring Jack Napier who was sleeping on the cot across from Snart.

"Come on boys, we're breaking you out!" Huntress said as she stood there with her arms crossed.

"Whathehell!?" Napier said, still barely half asleep. His eyes widened upon seeing the grotesque form of Blockbuster. He held up his hands, waving.

"Oh no no no. I did the job for ya's, but now you're risking my job by breaking me outta here. How's my plausible deniability gonna look if I go runnin' off with you losers?" Napier said as he sat up on his bed and folded his arms. Snart looked at the unmoving Napier and then hopped up, grabbing a knife stashed under his pillow.

"Well hell, I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth." Snart hopped through the hole that Blockbuster had made for him and the group looked at Napier for a moment. Huntress tapped the communicator on her ear.

"Napier's not coming. What should I do?" She asked. There was a moment of silence, before a voice crackled into being.

"Find someone else to lead this little prison riot." The Demon Head's voice came over the comm.

"Who!?" She returned.

"Figure it out! Or maybe you wouldn't like to see your bodyguard again." Ra's voice came back with a threat.

"Hey, uh, lady? We've got a problem." Leonard said as he and Blockbuster turned to see a large group of guards entering the hallway. Huntress reached onto her back, grabbing a gun that had been taken from STAR Labs. Looked like something out of a science fiction movie. She handed it to Snart.

"Since Napier's going to wimp out I guess you can have this." She said. Snart simply smiled, snatching the weapon from her hand. The guards quickly opened fire, forcing the duo to hide behind Blockbuster as they jointly retreated. Blockbuster raised his hands to block the bullets, grimacing as the sheer volume of them became a little more than bothersome.

They backed up to the hole that they had come through when a second contingent of guards showed up, these in battle armor which made Huntress's crossbow pretty useless. She cast a jealous glance at Snart, suddenly annoyed that she had given him the better weapon. Still, she wouldn't need it. The group continued to back away, even farther down the hallway as the guards converged on them.

"Just a bit farther down is the maximum security vault. No exits." The Demon Head informed her over the comm.

"And that's a good thing?" Huntress asked sarcastically. There was no answer, but she didn't need one. It's not like there was any choice at this point except retreat into the depths below. Hopefully it would be an area that would work better for Blockbuster to clean up these guards. They burst through the maximum security door, retreating down a flight of stairs.

Indeed, the close quarters of the staircase made it much easier to pick off the guards from various angles and throw them around, but there was still an overwhelming amount of firepower headed in their direction.

Up above them, Officers Ted Grant and Laurel Lance watched.

"Keep 'em moving!" Officer Ted Grant said as he stared through his protective faceplate at the villains descending the staircase towards Maximum Security. Next to him Laurel and a litany of other guards continued firing their high powered rifles, which clearly weren't going to kill the small group of intruders, but would certainly keep them moving.

"What the hell do we do now? They're holed up." Laurel said with frustration as the group got to and locked themselves in maximum security. Ted just smiled at her.

"Are you kidding? They just locked themselves up!"

 **Maximum Security, The Slab.**

It had been dark for a long time. No light, no smell, no feeling of anything at all. Just enough nutrition to keep the body alive. And yet, over the course of what seemed like hours, small tiny vibrations began to "appear" as it were, lighting up the only sense left. These vibrations got louder and louder, becoming gunshots, screams, rushing of the feet.

Something not heard in a long time. Then light, figures in the shadows, darkness. Scent, for the first time in a long time. Fear, sweat, anger. Delicious sensations for one so deprived. A wicked grin seemed to light up the darkness in Maximum Security.

"Who enters my domain? Master Grayson, is that you?" Carol Ferris said from her spot chained in the darkness. Huntress felt a shiver go up her spine at the noise. She and Snart turned around while Blockbuster held the door shut. The two villains produced flashlights, pointing them in the direction of the noise.

"Ew! Gross!" Huntress said with a dramatic gagging sound as her light illuminated a scaly green creature, reminiscent of an alligator or a crocodile. Twin yellow eyes gazed back at her, simultaneously savage and intelligent, a scary combination to say the least.

"Not Grayson, just passing through." Snart said awkwardly as he pointed his flashlight around the darkened maximum security room, trying to find any sign of a new weapon or exit. He frowned in frustration - this escape had already gone poorly. Maybe he could claim he was kidnapped?

"You search for a way out?" Carol hissed. Helena nodded in response. Carol smiled, but with her crocodile-like form it looked more threatening than anything.

"I can help you with that, if you just release me."

 **The Slab**

"Well… that doesn't look good." Green Arrow said as he, Athene, and Eris stood atop the main guard tower of the Slab looking inwards towards the courtyard. Where a small contingent of guards should've been was instead a full scale riot as various criminals filed through holes made in the wall. He tapped his ear.

"Oracle, any clues on Huntress?" He asked, trying to mask his concern.

"Her tracker is on, but her comms are off. Might be using a different channel. But if she left her tracker on I'm guessing she must've wanted us to follow her here." Oracle responded quickly. Green Arrow nodded, looking at the crowd below. Athene pointed across the yard.

"There's a few guards trapped in that guard house over there. Let's get these guys back inside at least, then see what we can do from there." Athene said. Green Arrow nodded, deciding to take her lead on this one. Athene hopped down into the yard, her heavy armor causing a slight commotion as she landed in the dirt. The prisoners stopped and turned to look at the silver clad woman just as Arrow and Eris landed gracefully behind her.

"We're not going back in those cells!" They chanted as the groups rushed at the vigilantes. Athene worked quickly, cutting a swath of destruction through the group of rioters even while Arrow and Eris worked the edges, trying to bottle the rioters back towards the prison where they had broken out of.

"Can I use it yet?" Eris asked excitedly, referring to the glowing weapon on her back - she was currently using a set of long knives and her fists.

"I wouldn't recommend that; at least not this close to the guardhouse." Lex's voice came over the comms now.

"No collateral, got it boss." Eris said as she threw two rioters heads together as she flipped over them and roundhouse kicked a third rioter.

"There's no way these clowns opened those walls by themselves." Eris continued to talk as she swept two more rioters off of their feet and finally made it into eyesight of the guardhouse.

"Is she always this talkative?" Green Arrow asked as he shot an arrow past Eris's head into a rioter that had been rushing Eris with a stone slab. She waved at Green Arrow with a smile before jumping back into the crowd.

"You have no idea." Athene chimed in as she lifted four men and physically threw them into the crowd as the rioters began to retreat back into the prison.

"Don't worry boys, we'll just do your job for you!" Eris yelled at the closed guardhouse. A guard motioned at Eris, pointing towards one of the farthest openings. Eris turned just in time for a small arrow to impale her in the chest.

"That was your one warning." Huntress said as Eris slowly sat up, a pulsing pain in her chest but certainly not deadly. Eris let out a mad cackle, causing an eyebrow raise from Huntress.

"Oh, you've done it now!" She said simply as Athene seemed to appear out of nowhere, clocking Huntress in the side and sending her flying fifteen feet away. She gave Eris a quick look that asked a lot. Eris nodded in response, she was okay. Athene turned around just in time for a giant blue fist to smash down towards her.

She raised her shield, but didn't react quite quick enough. It took all of Athene's strength for her legs to not buckle under her. She relieved the pressure by crumpling and rolling to the side, allowing Blockbuster's fists to slam directly into the concrete, send chunks flying into the air.

"Helena!" Green Arrow was crossing the yard now to where Huntress had been thrown by Athene. Speaking of Athene, just as she rolled up, sword facing Blockbuster, she was tackled from the side by a giant green skinned lizard.

"There's a dragon here, can I use the gun now?" Eris asked even as she was un-slinging the advanced weapon from her back, taking aim at the big blue guy.

"That might be a good idea." Barbara deadpanned over the comm. Eris didn't need much more inspiration as she pulled the trigger, releasing a high powered plasma blast directly at Blockbuster's chest. The creature was moved backwards, but not nearly as much as Eris would've hoped. Blockbuster looked up at Eris with angry eyes.

Across the yard, Green Arrow caught up to Huntress who was slowly pulling herself off of the ground. She groaned as she already felt a large nasty bruise forming on her side.

"Helena! Are you o-" Oliver began to ask, but moments later he was met with the all too familiar feeling of a knife on his throat. Helena looked back at him with fire in her eyes, something he had seen many times before.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" Oliver asked, trying to ignore the slight digging of the knife into his throat as Helena regained her footing. She spit some blood out of her mouth.

"I'm a killer, Oliver! This is what I do!" She replied, staring at him. Oliver shook his head.

"But you're not! I saw you spare Cassamento the other day to help me with Luthor. You are a good person, Helena." Oliver said. Helena just laughed darkly.

"I don't need any of that 'believe in yourself' shit, Oliver." She said, and the conversation wasn't allowed to progress anymore as Huntress threw a punch towards Green Arrow. He reacted without thinking, rolling backwards away from the punch. He came up with his bow slung, just in time to loose an arrow which deflected one that Huntress had fired - right at his face.

"That would've been a kill shot, Ollie." Barbara informed him over the comm.

Back to Eris, she jumped up as Blockbuster charged at her, landing elegantly on top of the creature. She thrust downward with an especially long Amazonian knife, impaling Blockbuster between some shoulder blades. The creature roared in pain, reaching up and trying to grab him by the leg.

"Dragons, great." Athene said as she came up and grappled once more with the giant crocodile like creature that was assaulting her. In the brief time she had fought Blockbuster, Athene had realized that she was much more agile than the blue monster. But this crocodile lady? She was quick, maybe even quicker than Athene if she didn't keep her cool.

"Oh how I've missed the joy of slaughter!" The distorted but feminine voice of the creature cackling as giant scaled hands came down on Athene's shield. The hands then opened up, fingers reaching around the edges of the shield and pulling away from Athene. While she held on dutifully, Croc was still able to lower the shield enough to throw a lightning fast punch to Athene's nose, annoyingly drawing blood.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harley struggling with the giant blue guy and behind her that mercenary from the tower was approaching with a large gun. Beyond her, Oliver was struggling with that bitch that had shot Harley. For the first time in a while, Athene wished that she had more back up.

"No!" Athene said with a push as she threw Croc back, swiping a few times with her sword. Croc reacted quickly, moving backwards, but that was okay. Athene was striking to injure, but to gain some much needed space. She turned towards Eris, throwing her shield as hard as she could. Eris turned around, seeing Snart sneaking up on her even as Blockbuster held her in place with his giant hands.

"This ain't good." She said, but she heard a familiar whistle. With a grin Eris pulled the knife out of Blockbuster's back and stabbed in into his hands, wincing as she felt pain from the arrow still stuck in her chest.

"End of the line-" Snart began to quip moments before a giant metal shield hit him in the side and knocked him across the yard.

"I think we found your signature move, babe!" Eris said as she wrenched her way out of Blockbuster's hands and flipped back to the ground, hands up and ready to fight. Then she, too, was surprised as Athene swooped by her at a speed only she could achieve, grabbing Harley by the waist and running towards where Oliver and Helena were still fiercely fighting.

"Going up!" Athene said as she threw Eris, sending the talkative blonde flying through the air. It wasn't Harley's favorite move, but she knew what to do and reached out her hands, grabbing onto the edge of the prison wall and pulling herself up. She was joined moments later by Oliver who landed much less graciously and much more confused. After him quickly followed Athene.

"This isn't going well!" Green Arrow stated the obvious as the three heroes turned to see the four villains sprinting across the yard towards them.

"Yeah, no shit!" Eris said as she began sighting her new gun. She grunted in frustration as Green Arrow and Athene leaped over the wall - the opposite way of the villains. She followed with a scowl.

Back on the inside, Huntress got up from the ground where Green Arrow had knocked her down, glaring up at the heroes. She turned as her three underlings approached quickly and held up a hand to stop them.

"If the cowards want to run, let them be! We've got better things to do." She said. Snart skidded to a halt, scowling at the wall where the heroes had retreated.

"What did you have in mind?" He asked.

 **The Arrowcave**

"That was horrible." Lex said as the three heroes tumbled in unceremoniously. He dropped his wry smile after a dirty look from Barbara that said 'Not now, smart-ass'.

"Can you help me get this out?" Kate said as he took off her helmet and turned to look at Oliver, who had his typical brooding look. Barbara sighed, pouring a glass and crossing the room.

"I'll grab the first aid. Finish this." She said, handing it to Harley as she kicked happily on the metal table at the center of the Arrowcave. Harley dutifully knocked it back and made a disgusted face.

"Didn't know you were a Bourbon gal." She said.

"I take after my dad." Barbara said loudly so that her voice carried from where she was digging a first aid kit out of a box on the wall. Kate set her helmet down next to Harley. Harley gave Kate a worried look as there was some dried blood on her face. She tried to reach out.

"Don't worry about me right now." Kate said stubbornly as she dodged Harley's hand. Oliver stood next to them, pulling his gloves off and opening the first aid kit.

"Alright, this is going to hurt. A lot." Oliver said as he reached for the arrow stuck in Harley's chest.

"Do you know from experience?" Harley said through grit teeth as Oliver pulled the arrow out of her chest. He quickly placed a cloth on it. The dull pain was replaced with a sharp one as hydrogen peroxide cleansed any potential germs that had gotten near the open wound. Oliver grabbed Kate's hand and put it on the cloth.

"Let it clot, then one of us'll sow it up." Oliver said as he placed a wet rag in Kate's other hand and motioned towards her face. They gave each other a quick nod, and Oliver crossed the cave to where Barbara was at the computer.

"What the hell was up with Helena?" Lex asked from his spot next to the duo.

"Not now Lex!" Oliver and Barbara said in unison as they turned to look at the scrawny redhead. Lex made a face, almost like a rage only barely contained, and then a look of hurt.

"Any sign of them?" Oliver asked even as Barbara typed away.

"Nope. They disappeared from the prison and the guards were able to put down the riot. A handful of injuries, one cop in the ER, but no deaths as of yet." Barbara said, "And Helena's tracker hasn't moved from the prison." Barbara added. Oliver sighed.

"She drew us there on purpose." He said as he tossed his hood on the counter and walked away to stew somewhere else. There was an awkward silence as Lex and Barbara watched him walk away.

"That must've been embarrassing." Lex said as he crossed the table to where he had been working on a second rifle like the one he had given to Harley. Barbara sighed, putting her head in her hands.

"Well, yeah, we didn't really expect Helena to go full villain on us like that. Oliver and her had been getting close before this happened." Barbara explained.

"Must've thrown him off his game." Lex said somewhat sympathetically. Barbara nodded in agreement and stood up to go follow Oliver. There was an awkward silence as Lex glanced over at the couple who were talking in hushed tones.

"This is the second time in as many weeks you've gotten injured." Kate said with a look of worry on her face.

"So?" Harley replied, scratching her head. She winced as Kate brought the needle through another time.

"You can't ask me to sit this one out." Harley said, reading Kate's mind. Kate sighed.

"I can't ask you to quit. I know you'd just follow me out there anyways. But these guys were strong. I'm just thinking maybe you could take a rest on this one?" Kate explained, giving Harley the rare puppy dog eyes. It made it clear what Kate wanted, but the decision was ultimately Harley's. She sighed.

"Fine, I'll stay here. Just this once." She said.

"Maybe you can give me some pointers on the gun design." Lex awkwardly chimed in. The two turned to look at him. Any normal person would've left when a couple was having a conversation like that, but Lex was a little weird. Harley didn't let it faze her.

"Sure! You gotta espresso machine?" Harley hopped up and followed Lex. Kate watched them leave, then got up and walked over to the computer table where she saw a few files Barbara had printed out: Huntress, Blockbuster, Snart, and Croc. The four goons from the prison. She grabbed them and walked to a nearby table to read them through.

On a different side of the arrowcave, Barbara tapped Oliver on the shoulder.

"Hey." Oliver said darkly. Barbara stood next to Oliver as they both stared at a feed, where Oliver had pulled up footage from the docks, when he and Helena had first met. Though they had known each other for a short time, Barbara could see that they had grown close.

"I know it's rough, with Helena…" Barbara began, unsure of how to proceed. Oliver nodded, staring at the floor and becoming vulnerable. Barbara patted him on the shoulder.

"You know I've been going out by myself for so long. I've always been scared I would die out there, alone, one day." Oliver said. Barbara didn't respond immediately, staring off into space - she had been here for a long time, but not out there. Why wasn't that good enough?

"Helena was my first partner in crime fighting. She made me believe things would get better one day, even if they weren't now." Oliver explained. Barbara began to open her mouth to respond, when there was a quiet cough behind them.

"Seems like I came at a bad time." John Stewart said as he stood behind them, arms crossed. On his finger was the calm glow of the Green Lantern ring.

"John!" Oliver said, walking away from Barbara to shake John's hand. Barbara stared after Oliver for a second, pushed up her glasses and walked past the two.

"I'll get the dossiers for him." Barbara said. She ended up at the main table, where Kate was going over the aforementioned dossiers. She walked past her to the computer, silently printing off another copy. Kate was about to say something when Harley tapped her on the shoulder.

"Cappuccino?" She asked. Kate smiled, grabbing the warm cup.

"You know how to make a cappuccino?" She asked, sipping the drink and reading some of the files in front of her. Harley nodded.

"College has to be good for somethin', right?" She said.

"Harley, can you take these to Oliver and our new friend?" Barbara said, holding a stack of files over her shoulder. Harley skipped over, grabbing the files and then skipping over in Oliver's direction. She slowed as she approached them.

"You have a thing for girl sidekicks, don't you?" John said with a chuckle.

"They're gay, and they're not my sidekicks, John." Oliver said.

"Damn right! And don't you forget it." Harley said as she walked up to them, her hands suddenly empty.

"If anything he's our sidekick." Harley said, turning to glance at John, "Barbie said to look at the villain files over there." Harley motioned to the table where Kate was sitting. John shrugged, walking in that direction. Oliver smiled at Harley.

"What was that about?" He said. Harley made a face at him.

"I just want to make sure we're all on the same page here, buddy boy." Harley responded. Oliver gave a short chuckle.

"Harley, my mom is a United States Senator. Do you really think I have a problem with powerful women?" He asked. Harley thought on it for a moment.

"No. I just want to make sure she's okay. She's only ever been out with me, and well she wants me to take a water break on this one. Can you look after her?" Harley asked. Oliver stared at her for a moment, thinking.

"I don't think she'll need my help, but sure! This is what we do." Oliver said, confidence beginning to return.

"Let me stop you before you break out into song." Harley said, but she was smiling again. The duo turned to look at the Arrowcave.

"Now if I'm going to be taking a sabbatical here, I wanna see your shooting range." Harley said, and the two began walking the direction of the range.

At the table, John sat down across from Kate. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"This cave isn't so secret." She said to no one in particular.

"Oliver has a lot of friends." Barbara said non-chalantly without turning away from her computer. John looked between the two, and finally stuck out a hand for Kate.

"I'm John Stewart, U.S. Marines." They shook, "Well, ex-marine." He corrected himself. Kate nodded.

"Really? I'm ex-Army, too." Kate said, still staring at the papers without offering much more information. To tell the truth her pride was still smarting from the battle in the prison yard. John didn't seem to notice her discontent.

"Well Semper Fi, Ms. Kane." He gave her a salute, which Kate did not return. He frowned, leaning forward.

"Alright, I get it. Enough banter. How are we going to beat these assholes?" He asked. Kate slowly folded closed one of the documents in her hand. She looked at John, with the glowing ring in his hand.

"Well that depends, Mr. Stewart. What can you do?"


	11. Chapter 5 Part 2

**Tyler National Bank, Jump City**

"Hands up!" Huntress pointed her crossbow at the first teller she saw as she and her impromptu gang ("the Hunters") strolled through the front door of the bank. The teller held their hands up, face fairly blank but a slight drop of sweat dripping from their brow.

"Hello ma'am. How much would you like to withdraw today?" The teller said nonchalantly.

"The whole vault, please." Huntress said, playing along with the teller's calmness. They were likely insured up the wazzoo, it made sense to just do what Huntress said.

"Cops are probably already on their way. Hey! Hands where I can see you, fatty." Snart appeared next to Huntress and pointed his laser rifle at the only security guard who was sitting at a nearby table. He set down his coffee that he had been holding, sighing.

"You're up, guys." Huntress said the to the two behind her. Without much ado Blockbuster barreled forward, ripping his way through the bars of the bank vault. Together with Croc, he ripped off the vault door. Croc slipped inside and began gathering up as much cash as she could, making a strange animal-like chipping sound as she did. Helena thought it might be laughter.

She looked at her watch as the muscle piled up bags and bags of cash by the door, while Huntress and Leonard moved all the employees and patrons to one single part of the bank where they could be held as "hostages".

"They're taking a while." Huntress said with a frown.

"What was that?" Leonard said from nearby with a raised eyebrow. Huntress shook her head.

"Nothing. Let's get out of here." Huntress said, and with a wave the gang moved right out the front door.

"Thank you for visiting Tyler National Bank." The teller said blankly as the robbers moved out of the bank. Huntress smiled and waved as she left, following her gang out of the front door and turning just in time to see Blockbuster and Killer Croc launching two police cars out of the blockade. She joined Leonard in providing covering fire as the group moved across the street towards an alleyway.

"Where the hell is Oliver? He loves this kind of stuff." She thought to herself with a frown as the group moved towards a nearby man-hole. They jumped down the hole, Blockbuster going last as he threw a dumpster at the various police officers that were firing at them.

"Where the hell are the vigilantes?" Ra's asked over the comm in Helena's ear. She shrugged.

"No clue. Maybe they're taking a vacation?" She whispered as the group advanced towards a more open area - one that Leonard recognized as the place where Agent Napier had originally planned to take The Green Arrow to torture him into revealing information about the man who killed Mick Rory.

"Hello, my name is Lex and I'll be your guide for this tour." A voice suddenly called out from above. The group stopped in their tracks, all looking around.

"What the hell was that?" Leonard said while Croc was sniffing the walls nearby him.

"Can't tell. Smell of shit is too strong down here." Croc said.

"That's probably just your B.O." A new voice called from the blackness, which moments later was illuminated with a brilliant green light. It rushed towards the group, impacting them like a car crash. Huntress fell over, vision getting foggy as she tried to gain her bearings. There was a splash behind her, she spun around, just in time for a sword to slice her crossbow in two, quickly following by Snart's own gun.

"Did you miss me?" The silver armored woman from earlier said with a smile. Leonard reached for a back-up weapon, but there was a *swoosh* sound from behind the armored woman and suddenly Huntress and Snart found themselves tied up in a rope that tied very tightly around them.

"Ollie!" Helena said with conflicted emotion as the Green Arrow appeared next to Athene. Blockbuster and Croc both moved towards the duo, but the green light from before came out shaped like a hammer. Croc narrowly got ahead of it, but Blockbuster was caught by the hammer and slammed into the wall once, twice, then three times. The hammer formed into a giant hand holding Blockbuster as John Stewart stepped out of the darkness with his hands on his sides and a smile on his face.

"Move!" Athene said, throwing Green Arrow out of the way as Croc landed on her. Once again she was reminded that this reptilian creature was stronger than she thought, and she felt the air leave her lungs as she pushed back hard against the attack. Croc growled as a trick arrow hit her foot, wrapping it up. With a grunt Croc broke the rope and lunged again at Athene in a blind fury, for which she was rewarded with a sharp cut to the arm.

Green Arrow narrowed his eyes as he fired the same trick arrow once, twice, and then three times, now wrapping Croc's feet even more to the nearby wall. This time she was slowed down for longer, and she looked down at her feet to remove the rope with her talons. This gave Athene the perfect opportunity as she barreled right at Croc, impacting her with her shield and sending the creature flying backwards - right into John's glowing hammer fist which sent the crocodilian creature crashing to the cold and smelly floor of the sewer.

"That was fun!" John said, and the new trio turned to survey the damage they had caused - this was a lot better than the bank, which they would later find out was thoroughly booby trapped in anticipation of Arrow and Athene attacking.

"Don't celebrate yet." Snart said and suddenly there was a flash of light. Though none of them could react in time to cover their eyes, all three focused their eyes to try to catch the escape path of the villain as Snart inevitably sprinted away from the scene. Oliver felt a small rush of air right past him, but was not fast enough to grab Snart as he quickly disappeared.

Their eyesight recovered a few moments later, and Oliver saw that Athene's boot was on Huntress's throat, John had Blockbuster tied up, and Croc was still groggy from the beating she had gotten from the group.

"Three out of four isn't bad, all things considered." Lex said over the comms.

"So I can still open the bottle of champagne?" Harley's voice followed, although distantly.

"Uh, this is my headset. I offered you one earlier but -" Lex tried to explain, but he was cut off by a popping sound and loud cheering.

"Harley, that's my computer!" Barbara was heard rushing in the background.

"Don't party too much without us. We still got to drop these uglies off for the police." John said with a smile as the trio dragged their various villain catches out of the sewers to the waiting police squadron above. Officer Grant appeared at the head of the group to give a nod to the vigilantes.

"I don't know who the hell most of you are, but I'm glad you guys are here. Thanks." Grant said.

"Yeah." Athene said, jumping to a nearby roof and disappearing.

"Sure thing!" Green Lantern responded to the officer with a smile before flying away.

"I guess that's my cue." Green Arrow said with a shrug, launching a grappling arrow in the distance and flying away.

"What a colorful group." Ted said with a soft smile.

"Yeah, what a bunch of assholes." Laurel said, standing next to him with her arms folded.

 **Elsewhere...**

"Wake up…" the voice tugged at Selina Kyle's brain like a fishhook.

"Uhhhh…"

"Wake up, Ms Kyle. It's all over."

Slowly, painfully, Selina opened her eyes, fighting not to shrink away. She couldn't remember much of the last…however much time had passed, or even know how long she'd been in this place. But she _could_ remember the pain, the oceans of pain that had threatened to drown her before she'd finally passed out.

As her vision cleared, she saw Pamela Isley standing over her. "It's all over," the scientist repeated. "And it was a complete success, better than I'd ever hoped for."

Selina coughed slightly. "Water. Please…"

Isley frowned, then nodded quickly. "Oh! Of course. I quite forgot – you must be thirsty indeed, you poor dear. You'd have become quite dehydrated."

She disappeared briefly, then reappeared, a tall glass in her right hand. Gently, almost tenderly, she reached behind Selina's head with her left hand and lifted her up slightly, carefully tipping the water into her mouth. A little dripped down onto Selina's neck…but somehow, that seemed to be soaked up by Selina, adding to the water she was drinking.

"What…" Selina began, then froze.

She'd caught sight of her arms, still tethered to the sides of her gurney. Her mind shrieked at her as she realised that her skin had turned deep, dark green. " _What have you done to me?"_ she growled, fear and anger welling up inside her in equal measure.

"Have a look…"

Suddenly, the gurney was rising again, propping Selina up into a sitting position. The wall opposite now had a mirror hanging from it. Selina stared, eyes wide open.

Every part of her that she could see – her arms, her feet, her head and shoulders – her skin was the same deep green. And…she gasped. Her dark, glossy hair was _gone,_ leaving an entirely smooth head and scalp.

"My initial mistake," Isley said, "was to work with large plants – flowers, cacti, creepers, that kind of thing. And my early experiments were regrettably crude. But as I refined my techniques, I also refined the material used. In this case: the material was a genetically-engineered lichen, minute enough to thrive and spread within the body without interfering with functioning." She smiled. "And rather than being an 'add-on', the lichen has reacted exactly as I'd hoped. It's effectively become a part of you, joined in a mutual, symbiotic fusion."

Selina was still staring. "What…what happened to my hair?"

To her surprise, Isley looked somewhat abashed. "That was…an unforeseen consequence. Unfortunately, it seems that the lichen prevents hair from growing, and destroys the roots of any already present." She forced a small smile. "Though on the plus side, it'll mean you never have to shave your legs again."

Selina felt rage wash through her, and she flailed her right arm in an angry motion.

She wasn't expecting the handcuff restraining her arm to break. Or for a beaker to suddenly go flying across the room.

Isley beamed. "Ah, now you see what the procedure did besides the cosmetic."

Selina looked down at her arms. Then, experimentally, yanked against the other cuff. It gave easily with a loud popping sound, chain breaking. Reaching over, she took hold of one of the safety bars on the side of the gurney and pulled at it. It cracked apart.

"You've…boosted my strength," she said, voice stunned.

"By quite a remarkable degree. You may need some time to train a bit, but…I'd guess you'll be as strong as that wretched Athene. Certainly, you'll be considerably stronger than my failed experiments, who were themselves superior in strength to any normal human."

As Selina looked down at her hands, she heard Isley continue. "But that's only one of the options now available to you. For one: while the lichen is perfectly safe for _you,_ when you focus you can exude a highly powerful neurotoxin through your pores. I'll teach you how, of course. For another…well, as you just saw with the beaker, the process has considerably altered your brain chemistry. In particular, it mutated that part of the brain that governs certain abilities once thought impossible."

"You mean…telekinesis?" Selina's mind was racing.

"Just so. Now, this _does_ require a great deal of energy, but here we come to the absolute beauty of your modification. While you _can_ still eat if you want, you can take in energy directly through UV light, you can absorb nutrients from soil – in fact, I'd recommend that you immerse yourself in nutrient-rich mud at least once or twice a week – and you don't need to drink water, you can simply absorb it. So as long as you have access to soil, UV light and water, you could go without food indefinitely…and you'll always have a large surplus of energy to allow you to use telekinetic abilities.

Selina nodded. "Can I ask a question?" she asked, forcing her voice to remain steady.

"Of course."

"Did you really think you could…change me, warp my body against my will, _violate_ me…and trust me not to use these abilities on _you?_ "

She was grabbing for Isley's neck even as she said that, ready to see just how strong she was, ready to unleash her hatred…when suddenly, she felt her her limbs fall limp of their own accord.

"Not really. But I _did_ trust in my own abilities." Isley smiled brightly. "Among my other talents, one is being able to…well, there's a long explanation involving pheromones, but the upshot is that I can control plants. Now, with normal, unaltered plants, it's a fairly useless ability – all I can really make them do is grow faster, go into bloom early, that kind of thing – but I can issue all sorts of commands to plants that I engineered. And right now, your body is inextricably linked with one such plant." Her smile turned slightly wicked. "Also…"

Suddenly, Selina felt her hatred flow away. No, she didn't want to kill Isley, she admired her, she'd be willing to lay down her life to see Isley's aims met…

As suddenly as it had come, the feeling was gone. "By issuing commands to the lichen linked to your brain, I can control your thoughts, your emotions, everything. Now, I prefer not to – you're of use to me as you are – but if you were to misbehave, I'd make such control permanent."

Selina hissed. "What now, then? More experiments? Or do you just want to torture me for the hell of it?"

She wasn't expecting the slap that followed. "Keep a civil tongue in your head, or I'll disable your speech centre," Isley said coldly. "I'm willing to do _anything_ to advance my research or to further my ultimate mission, but I'm not a sadist. I don't inflict pain for its own sake." She took a deep breath, then continued more calmly. "Having improved you, there are two things I desire from you now. One is to monitor you, to observe you in preparation for making this process more widely available. This won't be anything too onerous: a few questions each day; recording and filming you at times; blood samples at intervals. The other…well, with your abilities, you represent a major asset to my cause. So: I paid you five million dollars for a mission you failed to complete, so now you owe me five years."

"Five years of…" Selina paused. "Five years of assassinations."

"Assassinations, theft, infiltration…whatever I deem necessary. You'll remain here, under my supervision, when not carrying out the missions I give you. Once the five years are over, then you may leave. By that stage I'll have others like you ready, so you won't be a great loss."

"Will I be leaving alive?"

"Of course. I won't have any need to kill you. And quite frankly, I wouldn't want to kill my greatest triumph unless you left me no other alternative. You may leave after the five years, with transport to anywhere in the world you want to go. And your money will be untouched, you can easily start over."

Selina seethed. But… "I don't really have any other choice. Well, I do, but not one that I'd like." She nodded. "All right. I agree."

"Excellent." Isley smiled widely. "Now, regarding your new abilities…"


	12. Chapter 6

**Jump City Botanical Gardens, Rainforest Biodome, 14:00**

Councilman Harlan Fillmore grinned as he saw his wife marveling at the huge tree in front of them. "Look at it," Mary breathed. "The leaves are as big as my head." She giggled like a teenager as she saw the brightly-coloured birds up in the branches.

Harlan felt himself relaxing. Yes, this had been a good idea.

It had been a worrying few days, for both of them. Ever since Comptroller Goldberg's death, he'd known. Known the truth. And his talk with Chief O'Hara had confirmed that _something_ was up. He'd be meeting her again this evening…

He felt someone bump into him, and whirled, just in time to see a woman wearing a burqa of all things backing away. "Sorry, ma'am," he apologized.

She didn't speak, but nodded her head and turned away, hiding a hand in her sleeve. _She must be wearing gloves – that's an interesting shade of green._ Though it was funny – where she'd bumped into him, it felt like she'd brushed against his hand with a bare hand.

He reached up, tugging at his collar. Was it his imagination, or was it getting hot…

Then suddenly, he was on his back, tumbled to the ground. Dimly, he heard his wife calling his name, saw her bending over him…then everything went dark.

 **Wal-Mart, Malebranche District, 12:00 the following day**

Kate Kane winced slightly. "Do we _need_ all this candy?" she asked, somewhat plaintively.

Harley grinned at her. "Candy isn't something ya _need,_ Red, it's all about the _wanting._ "

"But…candy, potato chips, pancake mix…Are you trying to make me fat, Harleen? Is that your new aim in life?"

Harley considered. "Well…be interesting to see what you _looked_ like fat, 'cos I really can't imagine it…but nah. I like you the way you are." Her grin turned sly. "Nah, Red, forget the calories. What does all this stuff have in it?"

"Well…a lot of it has sugar…"

"Bingo. An' sugar gives you energy, and that in turn gives you…stamina."

Kate had to admit, she _liked_ the way Harley said 'stamina'. Still… "OK, but we have to get _some_ vegetables. And yes, potatoes are vegetables, but I mean _green_ vegetables."

"Fine, fine. Green Jell-O, OK?"

Kate laughed. She couldn't help it. "No…"

She paused as her burner phone lit up, and she turned it on. "Yes?"

Barbara Gordon, the woman Queen called Oracle, was on the other end. "It's me. Can you meet us? We need to talk."

Nothing further, but there didn't need to be. "We'll be with you in quarter of an hour." _Ten minutes, but there's no way Harley will let me walk out of here without buying that stuff._

 **The Arrowcave**

It was shortly thereafter that Kate and Harley were in Queen's lair. Kate had to admit, it was pretty impressive: it put even the underground part she'd added to the cabin to shame.

"So," she said eventually, "you think there's a pattern to these deaths?"

Sitting in front of her computer, Barbara Gordon nodded. "Over the last three weeks, seven high-ranking people in the city administration and the emergency services have died. All of them as the result of accidents."

Kate paused, looking for a way to be a voice of reason without sounding utterly dismissive. "Any particular thing get you thinking along these lines?"

Standing across from her, Queen laughed. "You sound like I did when she first said this to me. But there's method to the madness. Babs?"

Barbara nodded. "A few things to consider here… OK. The dead are as follows: three City Councilmen, Randolph, Petersen and now Fillmore; the head of the City Fire Department, Andrea Burke; the city Comptroller, Hurley Maxwell; and Benjamin Harp, head of the Jump City FBI Field Office. Now, the latter three are people with positions vital to the effective running of the city, and the Councilmen were all reform-minded individuals who'd been actively working to clean up some of the poorer areas in the city. Since their deaths, their positions have been filled by people who've been…less active in that regard, which has led to increased dissatisfaction in those parts of the city. Especially Old Town." She paused. "So right away, you have these deaths being destabilising. Now, secondly, we have their deaths. On the surface of it: entirely accidental. Randolph and Harp were killed in car accidents, when they apparently lost control of their cars. Fillmore apparently touched some kind of poisonous moss in the Botanical Gardens. Petersen was visiting a construction site, and a hammer fell…after a gust of wind took his hard hat off. Andrea Burke was inspecting a firehouse, an engine apparently hadn't had its brakes on properly and it crushed her against a wall. And Maxwell was killed when a gas main exploded. But…well, it was Randolph, Harp and Maxwell's deaths that made me think. When something like that happens, you _expect_ a fair number of other injuries and deaths. But in all three cases…only they died. Both Randolph and Harp lost control on traffic-filled roads, but they didn't hit a single other vehicle, they just ploughed into the freeway barriers. And Harp was driving in rush-hour."

Kate frowned. Now _that_ was interesting… "And…there was a gas main explosion, and only Maxwell died? Was this in a building?"

"Yep. His apartment building…but the other eighteen people in the building at the time escaped with minor injuries. So I started thinking harder. And the others didn't make much sense either. I mean…hard hats are next to impossible to lose in wind, and what're the odds that a hammer just happened to fall when…"

"Hold up!" Harley was suddenly there. "Did you say that one of 'em died from touching a poisonous plant?"

Barbara nodded. "Yes. And that was another thing: the plant in question shouldn't have been anywhere near that exhibit, but…"

Kate could see where Harley was going with this. "I think that we might know who's behind this." She sighed. "No evidence – however they've been doing this, they've made sure of it – but I agree. This is _way_ too much of a coincidence."

 **Disused military facility, 13:00**

Selina Kyle lay immersed in a bath of warm mud: only her head emerging from the surface, and even that was covered in a thick layer save for her eyes. Warm _clean_ mud. Her 'employer' had been very clear on that: while this stuff had all the nutrients found in soil, it was entirely pollutant free.

She shifted a little. She still wasn't sure if she enjoyed the sensation or not, but she could _feel_ the good it was doing her. Her body absorbed nutrients like a sponge taking in water, and with the nutrients, she could feel her strength building, growing like a fire within her.

That knowledge, of course, had its own depressing side.

The mud bath occupied one room of the generous set of rooms she'd been given as her living area, together with a shower and other necessities. The other rooms included a living room and a bedroom…but with a difference. There was loam and foliage underfoot everywhere, UV lamps lined the upper walls, blazing away constantly, and a fine, warm mist filled the air, like in a rainforest. _Thank God she waterproofed the electronics, or I wouldn't even have the TV._ Reading paper books was impossible…

All of it, though, was designed to give her a comfortable living environment. And she'd been finding that while she could live outside, and live safely without danger to herself, she found it…uncomfortable. Being away from these conditions made her feel edgy, irritable, and several other unpleasant things. It was only when she returned to her 'vivarium', as Isley called it, that Selina felt fully human.

Suddenly, she became aware of a new scent, even over the jungle atmosphere of her vivarium, and she tensed beneath the mud. _She_ was here.

Opening her eyes, she saw Pamela Isley crouching by the edge of the huge bath. "Hello there," the other woman said brightly. "And how're we doing today?"

Selina forced herself to keep her voice steady. "Fine. Well, as fine as can be expected. The mission passed off without a hitch."

"Indeed. A very well-executed piece of work…and a perfect use of your neurotoxin. Well done."

Selina swallowed. "Thank you. Is that why you came down?" She knew the answer already – it was the same one that Isley always gave when she just casually wandered into the vivarium – but Selina made a point of asking why she was here, to try to reinforce that Selina would far rather the other woman wasn't.

"Oh, no. Simply to check on you, and make sure you're properly tended to." Isley smiled. "I wouldn't be much of a gardener, would I, if I failed to look after the most precious plant in my garden?"

Selina clenched her teeth. "I suppose not," she said at length. While she did her utmost to indicate her continued dissatisfaction with her situation, she didn't like to try pushing her 'employer' too hard. Especially since Isley had proven herself to be all about the results, with other considerations secondary. She was more than capable of taking control entirely of Selina, she'd shown that, and Selina had determined that it was better to obey and remain herself than be too independent and risk becoming a mindless slave. "And…you do a good job. Your design of this vivarium was very impressive." _Of course, the fact that I need the damn thing is entirely thanks to you, you bitch._

Isley beamed at that. "Oh, it was my pleasure. After all…you're the first of an entirely new generation of humanity. You'll be like Mitochondrial Eve to future historians."

She sat on the corner of the bath, looking straight into Selina's eyes. "While I work for the League – their aims do coincide with mine, to a point – my end goal is far, _far_ more wide-ranging." She smiled dreamily. "You will be the first of many, a hybrid breed of humans who will become the new guardians of our beautiful world. Once I've a small community assembled, we'll find a stronghold, far from the rest of the world…and _I_ will see the rest of humanity, that greedy, short-sighted, race, purged from this Earth. Then, when the Dying Time passes, our new race will emerge and retake the world. And this time, the new race will live in harmony with nature, not exploiting it."

The passion that entered her voice…Selina shivered. She was reminded of watching a video of Hitler during the Nuremberg rallies, only this was possibly even _more_ horribly alluring. OK, it lacked the wide appeal, but like this, one to one…despite everything, despite what Isley had done to her, despite the sheer evil of what she was planning, Selina found herself being drawn along on the tide of the other woman's enthusiasm.

Isley smiled, and playfully tapped Selina on the nose. "I know that in five years, you' may be gone…but when my plans are realised, we'll find each other again. And you'll have a leading role in the new world I'll build."

So saying, she rose gracefully and stalked out, leaving Selina alone. Selina counted ten seconds from the vivarium door closing before she allowed herself to shiver openly.

Shiver…and seethe. _I will kill her. One day, somehow, I will_ kill _her._

Pamela Isley sashayed out of the vivarium with a definite spring in her step. Her subject was slowly becoming more at home with her new life. Oh, it hadn't been easy – there'd been some rather regrettable scenes at first – but she definitely felt that a corner had been turned. And while her main interest lay in wider results, not in the individuals who formed the basis for her work, she was glad that she hadn't had to resort to crude methods of coercion to keep her subject in line.

The spring was still in her step as she entered her lab. "Dr Luthor," she said with forced cheerfulness. "Still hard at work, I see?"

Lionel Luthor looked up from his microscope, a cold smile on his face. "I have to say, Dr Isley, this lichen of yours… 'impressive' hardly covers it."

"You're too kind." Despite her dislike of the man, Isley preened a little. "There are still issues with it, of course – my only success to date has been with someone who already had certain…advantages."

Luthor nodded. "Those who demonstrate abilities beyond the human norm." He stroked his chin. "Prior to my…inconveniencing, we were conducting experiments with 'meta-humans' as we called them. They were released from my laboratory," a shadow crossed his face, "but they'd been injected with a tracking isotope. If you could get me certain equipment, I just might be able to find where they are in the city. Then your prototype, along with a few of your other men, could track them down."

"And give me some more subjects," Isley finished. "Which will benefit our mutual friends no end."

She fought to keep her excitement from showing. More test subjects, more hybrids…and her new species would be one step closer to becoming a reality.

And of course, the mind-control formula continued to progress...

Kate mopped her brow, wishing that this particular little mystery hadn't taken them into the rainforest biodome. Even in a sleeveless top and shorts… " _Hot_ ," she muttered.

"Yeah ya are, Red, but we got things to do," Harley's voice crackled cheerfully in her ear. "See anything?"

Kate shook her head, blinking a few times. The special contact lenses she was wearing seemed to whir slightly, then shifted through the spectra again. "OK… So from what I can see," Kate said carefully, "there's trace elements of the toxin starting about seven feet away from where the Councilman died. And it follows a route straight to him."

Barbara's voice came into her other ear. "So what – like it was walked? Are you saying our enemy is a poison monster or something?"

"Well, considering some of the stuff we've seen lately, it wouldn't surprise me. But probably not. Not given how the steps only start seven feet away, and don't appear to be elsewhere."

She paused. "Can you two see me?"

"If I wasn't able to see ya, Red, I'd've come over there already." Harley's answer sounded while Barbara was still drawing breath.

"OK…I'm going to head over to where it started, then follow along back to where the body was."

So saying, she walked over to where the traces of poison started, then followed them back. "In the footage from the day, is anyone else following the same route?"

There was a pause. Then Barbara came back, voice taut. "Yes. Em…I think it's a woman, but I can't tell. They're wearing, em, what do you call them, those Afghan things…"

"I know the kind of thing you mean. With mesh covering the face?"

"Yep."

"Not covering _everythin',_ though," Harley said. " 'Cos she's just grabbed the dead Councilman with one hand, and it's bright _green._ "

"And now he's collapsing," Barbara finished. "I think we have our murderer."

"Can you get eyes on wherever she goes? The poison trail kind of peters out near the main door."

"Uh…she heads out the door, then we lose her. We…pick her up again passing the butterfly dome, then she's heading to the car park…there's an SUV to pick her up. Windows are tinted, but one person's opening the door… And they're gone."

"Any numbers on the SUV?"

"Yes, Harleen's just texting them to Johnny…"

"Nada." Harley's voice came back. "Probably fake. But I've got him looking for traffic cam footage, see if we can track where it's going." She laughed. "Still, though, with green skin, we know who's ta blame here, don't we?"

"Oh, I think we do indeed," Kate replied grimly. "We do indeed."

The problem was, of course, how did they go about _finding_ the culprits? While Harley's idea might work out, if it didn't… _We have no idea where they could strike next or who's likely to be a target…_

* * *

 **Jump City Police Plaza, 13:30**

Chief of Police Maureen O'Hara was looking through a series of reports when her second phone buzzed, and her heart froze. Swallowing, she picked it up and answered. "O'Hara," she said, fighting to keep her voice neutral.

"Hello, Maureen." The other woman's voice was as deceptively pleasant as ever.

O'Hara swallowed. "Wh-what do you want this time?"

"You're making sure that the latest tragic accident to befall a prominent citizen is being ignored?"

"Yes." It ate at Maureen, but…

"Good. Now, I need you to make sure something _else_ gets ignored, too. Any 911 calls coming from Oliver Queen's penthouse tonight. And you're to make sure his impending death is ruled a suicide." There was a pause. "Also, I'd like to ask you to arrange a few things to be diverted elsewhere. Some of those nice new computers that you've been using to track tagged criminals, a couple of mobile scan-trucks…"

Maureen set her jaw. "I…I can't just hand police equipment over to you!"

"Now now, Maureen. Remember our little talk previously."

"You…you don't scare me! I've got guards watching all my family."

"I know you do. Who do you think would kill them if I ordered them to?"

Maureen felt ice settle into her heart and stomach. _But…I picked the men and women who're looking after the kids. They're all veterans, people I've worked with for years…_

 _How deep does this go?_

"Now, are we going to be reasonable?"

Maureen swallowed. "Y-yes," she said eventually. "Damn you, yes."

 **Old Town, 17:00**

While Athene would have had objections to the _police_ using the methods that she was employing right now, she was extremely glad that she _wasn't_ official. Thus, she could use them as much as she liked.

She looked down from the open window. Tony Genovese looked up at her, swaying from the end of the Lasso of Power. "Jesus Christ, are you _insane_?" he shrieked.

"She ain't," Eris supplied, walking up beside him and swinging her bat in a meaningful motion. "I am, though. And I've been begging her for a new piñata for _weeks_."

Genovese's eyes went wide. "No! Look, I don't know, I'm not a big fish…"

"But you know where the big fish swim, don't you?" Athene started the Lasso swinging gently from side to side, bringing Genovese with it. "And you know who they deal with. _Don't_ you? Now look: we're not asking you to rat out your bosses – we don't need to, not with the damage we've been doing to their enterprises. All we want to know is: have they been helping with the new players we asked about? The ones who tried the job on STAR Labs recently?"

Genovese considered. Then, as Eris advanced with her bat, he raised his hands. "OK! OK! Yeah, Boss Maroni's been sellin' stuff to them. Information mostly. And…" he swallowed. "And which cops are on our payrolls."

"And what do you know about what they've been up to recently?"

Genovese gulped. "OK. I know that they…um, they used our guys to get people of their own inside the force. And…and they've managed to get the force not to pay much attention to the recent deaths. One of the detectives they had looking over Councilman Fillmore's death, he was on the family's payroll, he said that they just rubber-stamped the whole thing."

"And the senior officers are going along with this?" Athene knew that the JCPD had problems, but this?

"I…I got the impression that at least one of 'em's being leant on, if you get my meaning."

Athene did. Definitely. "OK. Now: do you know what they're planning next?"

"No!"

Eris looked up. "I don't believe 'im, Red. Not at all."

"AH! OK!" Genovese hid his face behind his hands as the bat came up again. "They've got somethin' big planned tonight, I don't know who though. And – and they've managed to swing some kind of police tech handover. I don't know how they arranged that, but I know where it's happening. Down, down at the docks, at six."

Athene looked at him. "Well, I don't know…" She raised her hand. "Do we believe him, Goddess of Strife?"

"Awwww…I don't wanna! I wanted to hit the piñata!" Eris sighed deeply, clearly pouting under her hood. "But I believe him."

"Alright."

Reeling Genovese up took but a moment. "So…I can go now?" he asked, before Athene cold-cocked him.

"With all the ecstasy in your apartment? You must be joking." Athene cuffed him to the radiator, then jumped through the window, landing heavily next to Eris. She'd call the cops from a payphone around the corner, before they left.

"So. What now, Red?"

Athene thought. "Well…the only definite lead we have is this handover of police equipment. So we should hit it. But…" She sighed. "We know these bastards use cyanide tabs. I think we should get the others, too – the more we have, the better a chance we have of getting at least a couple intact. And if we get them, then we can maybe work out just where they're operating from."

Eris nodded. "Though…it's already 5, Red." She snapped her fingers. "I'll head to the docks now, you go and grab arrow-boy and Barbie, plus tight-ass if he's around."

Athene hesitated at that. It made sense, especially since Eris was better at hiding than she was, but…

Clearly, Eris saw her hesitation. "I promise I'll only watch, keep you up to date on what they're doing. I won't move in 'less you ask, promise."

"OK." A sigh. "I'll hold you to that, though…"

Athene suddenly found herself being hauled into the alley next to the apartment block. Before she could ask what was going on, Eris had tugged her helmet off and was kissing her hard.

"Wha – not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?" she asked eventually as they broke apart.

"For bein' awesome."

Kate grinned. "OK. Well…if you're going to do that, I guess I should give you something for luck before we go."

 **Oliver Queen's Penthouse, 17:40**

Selina Kyle popped the window open, and nimbly clambered inside, moving like a cat as she crossed the living room floor.

She had to admit, Mr Queen was a very safety-conscious man, surprisingly so for a man of his age. She'd had to scale the building because, well, there was literally no other way in.

Then again, the exercise had been good. And feeling the evening sun and the wind on her skin had been _amazing._

She heard footsteps, and readied herself. This shouldn't take long.

* * *

The TV was on a news channel – something about British and Australian forces helping the Malay and Thai governments shut down militant groups operating in the borderlands between the two countries, accompanied with stock footage of soldiers in camouflage and the _Ark Royal_ in Hong Kong harbour – but Oliver was paying it no attention, instead focused on the feed on his phone. And how it was growing longer by the second.

The deaths had had an unexpected effect – well, unexpected by _him,_ but he was willing to bet whoever'd ordered them had planned this. Social media was full of community leaders and activist groups from the city's poorer districts denouncing the city government for failing to investigate the deaths properly.

 _This 'Make the Poor Matter' group especially… They're being quite radical in their calls._ They'd already organised some form of march in Old Town.

 _There's already a lot of bad feeling in the Old Town districts, bad feeling that'll have got worse with the deaths of representatives who were actually trying to help those areas. If the march goes sour…_ Visions of riots spiraled before his eyes.

The more so since he knew how justified they'd be. Old Town had been badly neglected by a number of Mayors. He'd been in there more than a few times, both as Green Arrow, trying to help clean up the neighbourhoods, and as Oliver Queen, using his fortune for social projects.

 _Damn. Nothing's going right, is it. Nothing's been going right since Helena…_

He froze. A woman was standing right in the centre of his living room: tall, with a slender build, wearing a tight black suit that covered everything but her head and hands. Her skin was a deep, rich green, and her head was entirely bald.

"Put the phone down, Mr Queen," she said pleasantly.

Oliver obeyed. "I take it that this isn't just a robbery," he said, keeping his voice steady as his mind raced. _Does she know? Does she…_

"I'm afraid not." There was a brisk professionalism in her voice. "You've…come to the attention of the wrong kind of people."

"I see." Oliver indicated the drinks cabinet in the corner of the living room. "Would you object if I had a drink first? I always promised myself I'd die with the taste of Scotch on my tongue, and I've a bottle of Tallisker single malt in here."

To his surprise, the woman laughed. "Go ahead. Slowly, but go ahead. I'd join you, but…" A wistful expression appeared on her face. "The work I've had done means my body can't handle alcohol anymore."

 _So this is engineered, not natural?_ "Sorry to hear that. The buyer's remorse must be considerable." Oliver opened the cabinet carefully, keeping his hands in full view.

Another laugh, this one harsher. "You think I _volunteered_ for this?" Her voice sounded ragged. "Think I _wanted_ to be turned into some kind of plant monster? But I took a job for the wrong person, and now I have to live with that."

"I wish I _could_ offer this to you. You sound like you need it more than I do."

Oliver lifted the bottle out, feeling the switch it held down lift up slightly. _Now, here's hoping that at least one of the guys is somewhere near the building._

* * *

Athene was feeling decidedly anxious about having left Eris to scout out the docks. OK, somebody had to, but…

She shook her head as she clambered out of her car, safely in the shadow of Oliver's building. She wouldn't be long collecting Oliver and Barbara, and a quick ride back…

She jolted as she felt her burner phone vibrate. Taking it out, she stared down at the screen.

 _Hi. If you're reading this, then I've tripped an alarm in my apartment because I'm in dire straits and need immediate assistance. Please hurry. Oliver._

In an instant, she was hugging the building, moving around from the back towards the service entrance. Getting in there was the work of a moment, especially with her strength, then she was heading straight for the lift.

 _I might be a bit delayed, babe. Oh gods, please don't let her do anything stupid._

* * *

 **Jump City Docks**

Eris watched the scene unfolding lower down. A number of men and women in police uniforms were unloading three vans full of something…science-y. Very science-y. _I'd probably have known what it was, back when I was boring, but couldn't say now._ And they were loading it into a single large truck, one guarded by some serious-looking types in black combat gear. About…half a dozen of each.

Eris looked down at her watch…then up again, as the last of the crates of…whatever the hell it was were transferred into the truck. _Damn. Looks like they're just about finished._

She stole another glance over her shoulder, but there was no sign of any forthcoming backup. Sighing, she rose from her hiding place on top of some convenient containers. _Ah well. Guess I'll just have to do it myself._

Reaching under her cloak, she produced four black, ovoid devices…then hurled them hard, shutting her eyes and opening her mouth at the same time.

Even with the plugs she'd put in her ears, she could hear the ungodly crack that the sonic grenades made, and could see the accompanying flash through her closed lids. Then she was leaping, eyes open again and plugs coming out of her ears.

Six of the enemy – four cops and two of the guys in black – were on the ground. And a few others looked badly staggered.

She went for those first, her Mac-10 coming out from under her cloak and firing into a pair of cops who right now didn't look like they knew exactly who they were. The hail of rubber bullets punched into them, mostly taken by their vests but knocking them to the ground.

Gunfire from the men in black stitched its way towards Eris, but, quick as a cat, she leapt away from it, then sprang forwards, somersaulting in mid-air and landing a powerful kick to one guy's chest, then producing her bat and hitting another guy hard, sweeping his legs from under him and then cracking him around the top of the head.

There was a loud 'kiaai!', and another of the black-clad figures came at Eris, a long combat knife in her hand. Eris narrowly avoided it, then caught the second swing on her bat…then struck out with her left hand, punching for the stomach. Then, as the enemy doubled over, she swung the bat and caught her enemy with the butt.

"Don't move!" The yell came from behind her.

Turning, Eris saw a blonde woman in a police officer's uniform shakily aiming a gun square at her back. And, slowly, four of the guys in black were coming out from behind the truck, also holding guns ready.

 _Huh. Well. Time for Plan B._

"OK," she said. "I'm puttin' the bat down."

Slowly, carefully, she began laying the baseball bat on the ground, butt first and with the head angled slightly upwards.

As it touched the ground, there was a 'thunk', and the grenade launcher that Barbara had helped her build in launched its payload, which imbedded in the side of the truck and exploded, the shockwave buffeting Eris and the four gunmen and pitching them from their feet.

Eris hissed with pain, but gingerly forced herself up. Fortunately, there hadn't been any shrapnel flying towards her, but she'd been tossed around somewhat. Though the gunmen, standing closer, seemed in far worse shape.

Well. At least they wouldn't be getting their hands on whatever had been _in_ that truck.

There was a crunching sound. Looking up, Eris saw the cop getting back to her feet and running.

 _Oh no you don't._ Hand flying to her belt, it came back with the Lasso of Power, which Eris cast quickly, catching her victim around one arm and reeling her in like a fish. As the police officer fell, Eris pounced, leaping onto her back and grabbing her arms. "I'd heard police wages were low," she observed conversationally, using the Lasso to bind her victim, "but jeez! Don't go sellin' stuff to plant-man terrorists! Have a dance or a table quiz or somethin', _anythin'_ other than that."

The cop thrashed furiously, glaring. "Let me go, you freak!"

"Let you go?" Eris laughed. "Not a chance! Not when you're the best lead we've had in months. Those guys," she jerked her head at the groaning, dark-clad figures, "like ta poison themselves, so they're no good. But if all you are's a dirty cop, then you ain't gonna do that. So we can have a nice long chat about who it is you're workin' for."

"You don't know who you're dealing with. They'll find you, and when they do they'll…" The threats were cut short as Eris produced a handkerchief and tied it over the other woman's mouth.

Eris regarded her for a moment. "Y'know…when you're talkin' to someone who dates a literal Amazon and who's fought a giant woman-reptile…thing, threats like that are so _dumb._ "

So saying, she picked the other woman up and pitched her into the back of one of the police vans. She looked back at the burning truck for a second, then shook her head. No way to retrieve anything out of there. Still…at least nobody _else_ would be getting their hands on it.

She climbed into the van and started it up, tearing away. She didn't know what'd be keeping Red, but she wanted to find out, and quickly.

* * *

The window was bullet-proof, but a blow from Athene's shield shattered it, and she was barreling through and into the green woman in seconds, letting Oliver turn and dive for cover. The blow would have knocked a normal human prone, but the woman spun in mid-air, landing neatly on the balls of her feet. Then sprang forward, kicking out. The blow caught Athene in the stomach, pitching her backwards into a wall that broke apart as she struck it. The assassin tried to land another blow, but Athene rolled away and kicked out, knocking her back.

The two of them, both now entirely back on their feet, circled one another warily. As Athene watched, she suddenly realised that the woman's face, despite the green and her lack of hair, were all too familiar. "You," she growled. "You're the one who tried to kill me. And who did her utmost to kill my partner." She'd been able to get the small sample of DNA the woman had left on her armour analysed. "Selina Kyle."

Kyle bowed her head in acknowledgement. "You have the advantage of me."

"What happened to you?"

"A mad scientist."

Athene hissed, tensing herself to strike. "Well. I hope it hurt. Though it won't have hurt nearly as much as what I'm about to do to you now."

She lunged…only to find herself picked up and hurled sideways, where she collided with a drinks cabinet, that rained down around her in fragments. Then suddenly, a coffee table was flying through the air, slamming into her midriff and knocking the air from her lungs.

Kyle was standing there, hand outstretched as a huge leather couch lifted from the ground. "It wasn't a pleasant experience," she said, wincing slightly. "And there are many things I didn't like about it…but it's had its advantages. Like _this._ "

The couch slammed into Athene with the speed of a car, making her double over in agony. It pulled back again, but – summoning her strength up – Athene was able to dodge at the last moment and roll forward, hurling her spear. Kyle released the couch and deflected the spear, but that meant her attention was away from Athene, allowing her to pounce, tackling Kyle to the ground. As the assassin tried to rise, to flip over, Athene punched her hard in the face once, twice…she began to pull her arm back for a third blow, but Kyle grabbed her around the upper arm, gripping tightly. Suddenly, Athene felt an oily liquid run over her skin, coming from Kyle's hand. She froze, but then realised that nothing was happening and settled for punching Kyle again. Then she found herself tumbling backwards as the assassin flipped her legs around and tossed her. Athene managed to flip in mid-air and land on her feet, just as Kyle regained hers…then the assassin was turning and running, heading out the window. A second later, Barbara was in the room, having quickly pulled on a ski mask as she came through the door.

Oliver emerged from the corner he'd been in. "Thank God for you guys," he said wearily. "Another half-second, and I'd've had to handle things myself."

Which would have played havoc with any desire to keep his identity secret, Athene knew. "Well, lucky for you you have such great friends." She scrubbed the stuff on her arm off with the tail of her cloak. It didn't seem to have any effect on her – she guessed it was from her enhanced physique – but best to be careful. Then, gathering her spear up, she prepared to follow Kyle.

She paused. Huh. It was pretty warm in here. All the more reason to get outside and chase the little bitch down…

"Athene!" Barbara was catching her suddenly, pointing to her arm. The part where Kyle had grabbed her was bright red…

"Hot…" Athene found herself mumbling, before her legs suddenly gave way and she fell to the ground.


	13. Chapter 6 Part 2

**Arrowcave**

Standing over Kate, Barbara looked towards Lex. "What's the deal?" she demanded.

The young man spread his hands, face flushed. "The…the autodoc shows high levels of the poison through her bloodstream. To be honest, I'm amazed she's still alive." A look of academic detachment came into his face for a moment. "Though whatever was done to her has improved her in any number of ways…"

" _Lex!_ " Ollie's sharp tone made Barbara and Lex jump.

"Ah…yes. Well, em, her body _is_ actively fighting the poison. But even so, the nature _of_ the poison is making things harder. It's…" He bit his lip. "I can't even get a proper sample of it. It seems to _change_ the moment that it interacts with blood."

"Can she fight it off on her own?"

Lex hesitated. Then shook his head. "No. She'll probably last another day, maybe more, but unless we manage to intervene somehow…"

"So we need an antidote."

"Yes. But I'm not sure how…"

" _KATE!_ "

The yell made them all jump. Turning, Barbara saw Harley run past her, dropping to beside Kate's bed and grabbing the other woman's hand. "Kate, baby, please wake up, I'm here, please wake up…"

Kate twitched, groaning loudly, but she didn't come back around.

Harley looked up, anger and fear warring across her face. " _What happened?_ " she demanded. " _Who did this?_ "

It was Oliver who stepped forward. "It was the same assassin who tried to kill her before. She came to kill me, but Kate…"

Harley was suddenly standing in front of Oliver, grabbing his shirt with both hands and slamming him into a wall. " _Heal her! Heal her, goddamnit!_ "

Barbara started forward, only to stop as Ollie raised a hand. "We're doing our best," he said, voice low and kind. "It's not easy – whatever the stuff is that they used, it's not like any poison we've seen – but I promise we're doing our best."

For the longest second, Harley was silent. Then suddenly, she was turning back to Kate, producing something odd from one of the pockets of her robe – a small metal thing in the shape of a caduceus. As Barbara watched, she did something with it, and a blue ray shone out, playing over Kate's body.

A second later, Lex cried out. "What…what is that? It's…it's killing the poison! Slowly, but it seems to be doing something…"

Harley didn't say anything, just kept playing it over Kate until suddenly the ray flickered and died. Lex looked up again. "Don't stop!"

"I have to," Harley mumbled. "There's barely any charge left."

Lex was clearly itching to examine the caduceus, but instead he turned back to the autodoc systems. "Whatever you did…it hasn't stopped the poison, but it's weakened it slightly. I'd say it's added a couple of days on."

Harley brightened. "So I could use it again and again?"

"Well…in theory yes, but the poison would still be in her system. So there's the risk of internal damage."

 _Which could just kill her more slowly._ The words hung unsaid over the conversation.

Harley's face fell, and her lips began to quiver. She drew a long, shuddery breath. "Can…can one of you go to our house?" she asked, her voice suddenly quiet. "There's this thing, it's like a glass candlestick, it's on our bedside table. I don't know if it'll help, but…maybe. Just maybe. I'd go, but…" She glanced back at Kate.

Barbara nodded. "I can. That's not a problem."

"Thanks." With that Harley had turned, grabbing up Kate's hand and sitting next to her.

Barbara turned. Whatever this thing was, if it had any possibility of helping Kate, she'd get it. Absolutely.

Selina tried not to flinch as Dr Isley turned to face her slowly. "So," she said. "You failed."

Selina swallowed. Then, slowly, nodded. "Yes."

Isley was silent for a while. Then, slowly, she nodded. "For reasonable cause. If Athene was indeed resistant to your toxin, and she had backup, then it was only right you didn't risk yourself." She smiled widely. "Especially since you're my first success. We have to look after you."

Selina just about managed not to flinch at that pronouncement, but nodded. "I could hold my own against her, but…well, the arrival of one of those other interfering bastards, plus the fact that what _had_ been going to be a quiet assassination…"

"I understand." Isley sighed deeply. "A shame that she managed to get away. But if we can get the two of you alone…well, things could be different indeed. And it's not like you won't have plenty of other opportunities to kill Queen again." She smiled. "In the meantime, let us consider the _main_ target…"

Oliver – Green Arrow now – looked steadily at the police officer that Harley had brought in. She was sitting in a large chair, her arms strapped to the armrests and her right sleeve rolled up. "Are you people mad?" she demanded, meeting his gaze evenly. "Do you know how much trouble you're in, kidnapping a police officer?"

"A police officer who was caught red-handed handing over police equipment to criminals?" Green Arrow returned evenly. "OK, we'd probably still be in for a world of hurt, but you'd be in a nice cosy cell too." He paused. "But what we want right now is information. Give us that, and we can forget all about you and you can forget all about us."

For a moment, the cop – an Officer Kennedy, according to her badge – seemed to consider it. Then, eventually, she shook her head. "I can't tell you," she said. "And unless you're planning on torturing me or something, you can't make me tell you. And you guys are meant to be the good guys, so…"

Green Arrow nodded. "You're right. We are." He nodded to Lex, who was wearing a balaclava to cover his face. "But we do have a very talented individual working for us. And he's developed a truth serum, a serum that doesn't have any side-effects and that's entirely reliable."

He fought to keep the words from sounding or tasting too sour. Even without side-effects, even knowing the stuff was entirely painless, using it made him feel singularly uneasy. He'd managed to convince Lex _not_ to make it available outside their little group, after some stiff talking. But with Kate near death, and with only this lead...

"Of course," he added, as Lex filled a syringe, "it _does_ leave you fairly susceptible. So if I ask you a question, you'll answer…and you'll volunteer information that's _not_ related to the matter at hand. Like information about whoever was paying your wages before the plant mob appeared."

Kennedy's eyes went wide, then she pulled back as Lex approached. "No, wait! Look, I can't give you information about who started bribing me, they'd…" She swallowed. "I'll…I'll tell you about what's been going on. My bosses…they told me that they needed me to smooth the way for some new guys, guys who were working for someone else entirely. That's how it started. Then, then they said I'd be taking my orders from these new guys, and there'd be a little more money than usual in it for me." She took a deep breath. "That's been going on for a few months now…then recently, well…you know all the deaths recently. It's been them. They've been making sure it gets hushed up, either their own people write it off, or they get the ones who worked for…" She paused.

"The organised crime families."

"Right. Anyway, between us, we've been making sure nobody investigates those deaths." She paused. "Look, I really don't know much about who they really are. You can give me that serum, but I won't tell you any different. All I know is that they're damn organised, and that they're far more widespread than just Jump City. And…and I've heard them mention 'The Demon's Head' once or twice, but I couldn't tell you if that's a codename or what."

"Then what _do_ you know?" Green Arrow demanded.

"Just that recently…their people have been looking very closely at our plans and schedules for City Hall. I…I think that their next target is…"

"The Mayor," Lex finished, voice taut.

Harley clung tight to Kate's hand as she sat by the other woman's bed, eyes fixed on the pale face. Occasionally, Kate twitched, and her breathing – even with a respirator – sounded ragged.

Harley gulped, forcing her eyes shut tight to keep anything from escaping. "Do you remember how we first met, Red?" she asked, forcing brightness into her voice. "It was in Jump City University Hospital. That night, when that bastard Zsasz decided he wanted to kill a blonde trainee shrink. A shrink who hadn't even looked his direction, 'cept to take notes. But he decided I was 'special'." She laughed, raggedly. "Don't think he was expecting me to blast him with the fire extinguisher. Or when I broke his nose. Sure stopped him being all high-verbal – felt like a victory when I got him to start randomly swearing. But I would've died. He just wouldn't stop coming. Until you appeared." Another laugh. "Hell, Red…he'd been gonna kill me, an' you were the first time I'd ever seen a superhero, so I shoulda been feeling all kinds of things. But the only thing I could think was how goddamn sexy you were." This time she giggled. "Your own fault, ya know. Sure, kicking him gave you a long reach than his arms, but it let me get a _good_ look at your legs. An' when I saw you tossing that bastard around like a rag doll…I just wanted to be in your arms right then."

She looked up, searching for something, anything on Kate's face. But her eyes remained resolutely closed.

Harley squeezed her eyes shut again. "Please wake up, Kate," she whispered. "You saved me – you saved me from dying, and you saved me from dying inside. And since then…I live for you, babe. I live to be with you, to fight with you, to share everything in your life. If you die, then I couldn't…"

She looked up as the door opened, and Barbara burst in, holding the…thing, Harley had never known what it was. She grabbed it. "Thanks, Barbie. I don't know if it'll work, but…"

"I hope it does. Whatever it is." Barbara looked towards Kate. "No change?"

"No. No change." Harley squeezed Kate's hand hard.

"I'm sorry." Barbara patted Harley's shoulder, then paused. "I…Oliver needs me for a few minutes. The ones who did this, they're looking to go after the Mayor he said."

Harley nodded, but kept watching Kate. She kept right on as Barbara walked out, then sighed and raised the candlestick.

She really didn't know how it worked. Kate tended to use it on her own, she'd only seen it the once when she'd hid and spied…

She jolted as a beam of light shone out of it, creating an oval in the air. Then, suddenly, a face filled it, a beautiful, strong face, topped by a flowing mane of golden hair and a diamond tiara. "Athe…" the face began, then paused. "Who…are you the woman who Athene's taken up with? How did you get this to work? Only Amazons should…"

"No time for that now, uh, your Royal Highness…"

Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons, took in a breath. " _Your Majesty,_ you…" She paused again. "Wait…Athene? What's wrong with her?"

"She's been poisoned." Harley could barely say it. "She's been poisoned, and they can't figure out how to cure her, but, but the ray thing you gave her slowed it down a bit."

Hippolyte's face changed from wrath to dismay. "Suffering Sappho…" she whispered. "What could have done that?" She shook her head quickly. "All right. The caduceus has two functions. It can heal with the ray, or it can manufacture antidotes if it can get a sample. I need you to place it over a vein."

Nodding, Harley did as she was ordered. A needle lanced out, and Kate cried out, still unconscious but clearly in pain. "Sorry, babe," Harley whispered. _Though what the hell did they make that needle out of?_

The caduceus glowed blue softly…then suddenly went red. Harley looked expectantly, but nothing happened. "What's wrong?" she cried.

Hippolyte peered, then cursed. "The poison must be reacting with her blood in some way…" She disappeared briefly, then reappeared with another Amazon, this one wearing some kind of silk robes with a caduceus design on it.

The newcomer looked, then shook her head. "You'll need to get a pure sample of the poison. Do that, and the caduceus will have an antidote made in minutes. But it has to be pure. From the source." She looked towards Hippolyte. "Can we get me there quickly?"

"It'll take a day or so…" Hippolyte nodded. "You try to get that sample, but we'll prepare to send Healers to assist."

"Thanks."

"Be strong, little one." The Amazon's voice was kinder now. "Athene tells me often of how courageous you are. Now more than ever, you need that courage."

So saying, the image flickered and died.

Harley thought to herself. A 'pure' sample…Well, the purest place would be from that Kyle bitch herself. But finding her, that could take forever. And in a fight… _I'm not an Amazon, and I haven't been toughened up like Kate. That stuff touches me, I die. And fighting in some kind of suit would be impossible – even if she wasn't super-strong or whatever…_

The others would help, of course. But even so, the real difficulty was finding her. How…

She paused, her mind catching up with what Barbie had said. _They wanna kill the Mayor. And they already tried to kill Robin Hood out there…_

She nodded to herself. Then squeezed Kate's hand. "I gotta go," she whispered. "Gotta go to save you."

Picking up her bat, then checking her equipment, then pulling up her cowl, she set her shoulders purposefully and strode out. Oliver was standing over Barbara, looking at a computer screen, while Lex was doing…something.

Eris didn't waste any time. She strode right over to Oliver and grabbed his shoulder. "You're comin' with me," she growled.

 **Stewpot District, Old Town, 16:00**

Sean Finnegan wasn't a man who scared easily. You tended not to be if you were in the line of work he was.

Right now, though, he was scared. And in considerable pain.

He whimpered as the woman in the hood and cape put down the baseball bat. "OK, Seanie," she said finally. "Now, are you gonna do what I said, or should we try for another home run?"

"No!" He shrank away. "No, no, I'll take your message."

"That's a good boy. Now: you make sure that this gets to the right ears. The new players in town, yeah? Tell 'em that I've got Queen and the Mayor, and I'll trade 'em for a sample of the green bitch's poison. Got it?"

Sean hesitated, and the woman raised the bat again. "Got it! Got it!"

"Good. I'd've had ta go for your leg otherwise, an' how'd ya've walked where ya had to if I'd done that?"

* * *

"So," Pamela Isley said, some time later, crouching beside Selina's bath, "what's your opinion? A trap?"

"From anyone else, that'd be my reading. But…" Selina paused. "I've fought that woman. So have you. Wouldn't you agree that…well, she's less than sane, to put it mildly."

A sour smile quirked over Isley's face. "That would…be a fair reading," she said.

"Exactly. But not just that – she's _extremely_ protective of Athene. So given those two facts, I can completely see her doing something like this if it means saving Athene." Selina felt a trace of professional pride. "It seems that I _did_ get her, it just took a bit longer to work."

"I take your point. And certainly, having the two of them just delivered to us would simplify things greatly." Isley smiled again, nastily. "The mood on the street is already less than peaceful. There's a protest taking place at the moment outside Police Plaza, and there's a gathering scheduled at one of the city churches. I imagine that when a known philanthropist and the city's first Hispanic mayor are found dead, and the police declare it to be an overdose of heroin…yes, I think that things could easily turn violent against the police. Which, in turn, would lead to all manner of instability in the city."

Selina squirrelled herself further down under the mud. "Are you happy about that?"

"Jump City is one of the more prosperous, important cities in the United States. Unrest here can quite easily become unrest across the country, especially if helped along by us. And, well, the League exists to sweep away the decadent, corrupt regimes of today." Isley smiled. "Of course, I hope to go that one step further. To bring forth my new race, and give you the world."

 _Good God…_ Selina had killed…she didn't know how many anymore, but they'd been assassinations. She'd always prided herself on never killing anyone but her target, and she'd always made it quick and clean. _And if this lunatic has her way…I'll be an accessory to hundreds of deaths at best, and genocide if she ever even comes close to succeeding._

On the other hand… She really, _really_ didn't want to simply be controlled, like a puppet on strings. Her mind was her own, even if she'd been changed against her will. And she was determined to keep it her own.

Isley seemed to come to a decision. "We'll do it. You select who you think are the best people for the job – I'll make sure they know to take their orders from you, don't worry about that. But do take any precautions you feel necessary, there's a good girl."

"Yes, ma'am."

Selina began thinking of the best way to go about things. It was more fruitful than her normal game of planning ways to best murder Isley.

* * *

 **Project Housing, Geryon District, 20:30**

It was a short time later that Selina was standing in the forecourt of one of the towering, crumbling Project blocks, shivering a little at the cool of night. Behind her, a group of League soldiers had fanned out, taking cover behind whatever presented itself. And she had sharpshooters elsewhere, in the other towers.

The occupants wouldn't object, of course. They knew better. The only ones who _might_ have were Los Mutantes, the gang who'd run things in the district. However, as a precaution, Selina had spent the hour before the meeting supervising their removal. They'd all gone very decidedly to ground.

 _Hell, might make the locals actually_ like _us rather than tolerate us._

She stiffened slightly as she saw a black car pulling into the forecourt, looking far too shiny for the neighbourhood. It came to a slow halt, and just as slowly, the main door opened. A small figure, clad in an orange Hazmat suit, clambered out.

Selina grinned despite herself. "Taking precautions, are we?" she said.

"Can ya blame me?" came an all-too-familiar voice.

"I suppose not…it wouldn't save you from bullets, though."

"Yeah, but the armour under it would." Eris paused. "Now…are we gonna deal?"

"I don't see why not. Though are you sure you're comfortable with this?" Memories of fighting with this woman and her partner – very painful memories, of a defeat that had been a contributing factor in Selina's current situation – made her extremely glad to have something that the other woman wanted. And she was going to take massive advantage. "After all, you're supposed to be a _hero._ "

Eris folded her arms. "My girl's the hero. I just go where she follows. She's the one who's important, nothing else."

"And how would she react to this?"

For a second, the Hazmat-suited figure looked down. "That doesn't matter," she said eventually, in a small voice. "I don't care if she hates me, just as long as she's alive."

Selina blinked. The sheer _wretchedness_ in the other woman's voice… Suddenly, she felt very guilty indeed. "Let's get this over with," she said hastily. "Have you got them?"

"Have you got what I need?"

Stepping forward, Selina produced a test tube from her belt. Holding it up in her left hand, she placed her right hand's forefinger over the top of the tube then, with a frown of concentration, let her toxin pour in gently. She kept on until the tube was filled, then stoppered it up. "Will this do?"

"Yes."

Turning, Eris walked to the trunk of her car and popped it open. She reached in easily and hauled out two figures. One of them, staring around in confusion, was the Mayor. The other… Selina grinned. "Sorry you don't have your Scotch with you, Mr Queen," she said.

Oliver Queen stared, then glared at Eris. "How _could_ you?" he demanded fiercely. "You were supposed to keep me safe, not…I thought you were a hero!"

* * *

In the shadows beside one of the enemy SUVs, Barbara hissed to herself. _Don't overdo it, Ollie._

Still, everyone's attention seemed to be on him and Eris. Rising slightly, she leant inside the SUV. Then grinned. _Jackpot!_

Taking a small terminal and lead from her belt, she clipped one end of the lead into the satnav on the SUV's dashboard and activated the terminal. Her hands flew over the touchscreen. _Now…where have you been?_

* * *

"…can't do this! I've done nothing to hurt you!" Oliver Queen was becoming desperate as Eris, a gun in one hand, shoved him and the Mayor forward.

Selina hastily waved two of her own men up, but Eris stepped back. "Nuh-uh! Not until I'm holding that sample in my hand."

"And why do you think that you're in a position to bargain?"

The woman's left hand uncurled, revealing some kind of detonator. "These two are wearin' thermite charges. You probably want 'em recognisable after death, but this stuff…"

Selina hissed. Unfortunately, the wretched woman had a point. Unrecognisable remains were no use to Isley's plans. Sighing, she stepped up and slapped the test tube into Eris' palm, then stepped back.

Nodding, Eris turned and walked back to her car, opening the passenger door and doing something at the dashboard – probably storing the sample. At the same time, Selina waved her own people back to their vehicles, leading their prisoners with them.

"Do you still have the shot?" she asked into her mike.

"Affirmative," came a low hiss from one of her snipers.

"Take it."

She turned to look back at Eris…just in time to, from the corner of her eye, see a huge green hand sweeping her men away from the two prisoners. Whirling, she saw the Mayor ripping his face off, revealing an entirely different face…one with a green eye-mask.

There was a loud crack from up in the tower, and she heard a shriek from her sniper. Then hell descended for a visit.

* * *

Eris rose back out of the car – sample secured in the armoured strongbox in the glove compartment – guns in hand, just in time to see the green guy unleashing his glowing green hands. They swept the men around him from their feet, then he was leaping forward, green blasts shooting from his ring to some of the enemy beyond the SUVs.

At the same time, Barbie rose up from the other side and hurled something through the air – the bow and arrows. Ollie leapt, grabbing it gracefully, spinning and loosing a gas arrow. As he landed, he ripped off the weird mask he'd been wearing, revealing his hood and mask.

Eris rolled her eyes. At this stage, she was pretty sure that the bad guys _knew_ who Green Arrow really was, but he insisted on trying to keep things secret. So tonight…he'd been Oliver Queen as Green Arrow as Oliver Queen.

Shaking her head, she spun up. Her choice of gun tonight had been a pair of MP5s, both of which bucked and roared as she opened up on the enemy. One of them spat rubber bullets, while the other was loaded with AP rounds, which she used liberally on the SUVs, ripping them to shreds.

Bullets sparked off the concrete around Green Arrow as he dived and rolled for cover, then another green hand appeared from Green Lantern's ring and sent two men flying backwards.

Suddenly, a huge trash bin slammed into Green Lantern's side, knocking him over. A second later, Kyle was leaping through the air, landing on him with both feet. She reached out with a bare hand, but before it could touch him, a net-arrow from Green Arrow's bow engulfed her, its weighted mass bringing her to the ground. Green Arrow moved forward, nocking another arrow, but several shots from a cluster of men sheltering at the edge of the courtyard made him turn to face them, loosing the arrow into one of the group.

On the ground, Kyle moved her hand, and the trash can shot through the air again, this time bowling Green Arrow's legs from under him. As he tried to right himself, she shucked the net off herself and rose again…only to fall forward as half a clip of rubber bullets slammed into her back.

Reholstering her guns, Eris ran forward, producing her bat and slamming it into the side of Kyle's head full-force. All injunctions that Kate had ever made against killing were gone from her head, replaced only with a mixture of burning rage and the desire to keep the assassin from ever hurting anyone again.

The blow would have knocked anyone else out. It only knocked Kyle back, howling with pain. Shrieking, she swung her arm, the wild punch knocking Eris backwards across the courtyard. She landed heavily, rolling towards the front of the car and dropping her bat. She scrabbled to pick it up, but then had to roll sideways as a breeze block nearly hit her square on the head.

Then all of a sudden, Kyle was standing beside her. A booted foot slammed into Eris' midsection, making her double up in pain. _Don't let my suit be punctured don't let her get me before I get back to Kate…_

Reaching down, Kyle lifted Eris up by the front of her suit, hefting the smaller woman high up. "A tip for you, little girl," she observed icily. "Double crossing tends to boomerang on the double crosser."

Eris felt pressure on her throat, felt a giant invisible hand threaten to snap every bone inside her neck.

"This is all your fault," Kyle continued. "If you hadn't interfered, if you'd not been there, I'd have killed your damned partner, and I'd have left America long ago." Her voice became ragged. "And that filthy bitch Isley wouldn't have turned me into a _freak!_ She warped me, she violated me, and it's _all your fault!_ _When I look at myself, I feel sick!_ _That's on you!"_

She reached out with her other hand, and Eris – as her vision dimmed – saw the car lifting off the ground. "So," Kyle finished, "you're going to die. But first, you're going to see me make sure your little sex buddy dies…"

The car dropped back down again as Eris slipped the derringer from her belt and fired once – no rubber bullet this, but a metal-jacketed round. As the round slammed into Kyle's chest, the other woman's eyes went wide, and she fell slowly to the ground, releasing Eris.

Eris coughed, trying to breathe through her bruised throat. Then, after what seemed an eternity, she took long, shuddering breaths, coughing again and again.

Suddenly, Barbie was at her side, helping her sit up. "Are you…"

Eris waved her off. "Fine. Fine…" She paused. "Actually, if you could help me up…"

She looked down at Kyle. "Is she…" She coughed, making Barbie help her back into the car.

"Come on," the other woman said briskly. "We have to go."

She settled Eris on the back seat, and got behind the wheel. The car screeched over to the others, and they clambered in, then the car took off, heading away.

Eris shivered as she coughed again. _I wanted to kill her, when I hit her, but… Did I? Did I really?_

She shivered again, then shook her head. Kyle had been going to kill her. And she'd have let Kate die. Probably even have killed the others. It might have been a killing, but Eris knew she hadn't _murdered,_ not like Kyle had tried to do.

As though sensing her thoughts, Ollie patted her on the shoulder. "You did good," he said. "We all made it out – from a plan you came up with – and you've got what you need to heal Kate. You did good."

The thought made Eris nod, and relax gradually.

 _Kate's gonna be OK._

"…failed," Lionel Luthor observed. "Utterly."

"I did notice," Pamela Isley said, icily. "Fortunately, it was only a temporary setback."

She understated, but not by much. While a collapsed lung from a bullet wound would have been a death sentence to a normal, unaltered human, to her subject…it hadn't _just_ been a flesh wound, but it was recoverable from. It had only been yesterday that she'd been shot, but according to the doctors, she'd be back on her feet again in a day or two.

"Oh, her healing factor is impressive – and don't misunderstand me, the lichen and the properties it bestows are nothing short of a wonder – but as a testbed, Ms Kyle herself hasn't exactly been a perfect success, has she?"

"I beg to differ. She carried out most of her objectives with complete success, she managed to incapacitate one of the more powerful metahumans known to us, and she proved she could dominate even when outnumbered. She just got slightly careless."

"Even so. Perhaps you should consider quietly euthanising her once you acquire…"

Isley didn't let him get any further. With one hand, she grabbed him and lifted him from the ground, slamming him against the wall, while she reached up with the other, letting her ivy vines grow out and burrow up his nose. "I was told to make use of you," she said, in a voice cold enough to freeze Venus. "I can't kill you. But removing part of your brain wouldn't kill you. And it would free me of your incessant yammering. Are we clear?"

Luthor nodded hastily, and Isley released him, dropping him in a heap. "That woman," she said, practically spitting the words, "is my first success. She is the first of a whole new type of humans. And in every other way, she's gone above my expectations. I'm not about to destroy something truly precious because she happened to get shot in a moment of carelessness." She paused. "And while our plans are somewhat slowed, they're by no means derailed. The mood on the streets of Jump City is still tense. There are still protests, protests that could easily be turned to more violent ends, especially if we inject a few things here and there on social media. So focus your intellect on that, rather than on my work. And focus on the fact that I managed to find an alternate source for your tracking equipment, so we should have some new subjects soon."

So saying, she stalked through the corridors towards the infirmary.

There was a doctor bending over Selina Kyle, but the man beat a hasty retreat as Isley walked in. Selina looked up, then shrank back into her bed.

"Well, you're healing well…" Isley frowned as she saw how Selina was pulling back. "Lie still, will you? You need to rest."

She saw Selina's lips trembling, and she sighed to herself. _Is she going to get emotional_ again? _I thought we were over this. Can't she appreciate the gift I've given her?_

"Now look…" she began.

Selina interrupted. "I…I know I've failed," she said quietly. "But…" She gulped, a tear running down her face. "Please don't take control of me. I'm not too proud to beg, and I'd do anything…"

Clarity dawned. "Ohhhh…" Isley nodded. "I see. You were afraid that I'd decide to take a more direct hand?" As Selina nodded, Isley patted her head gently. "Perish the thought. I'd only do that if you actively tried to thwart me." She smiled. "Besides, it's an inefficient way of doing things. Trust me: you're much more of an asset with your own mind and with autonomy." A thought made her laugh. "Besides, perhaps it's as well that this happened. It'll give you additional incentive to finish the job on these wretched interlopers."

Selina looked up at that. "Oh, I've all the incentive I'll ever need. Don't worry. For them and for others."

* * *

"…but yeah, she's entirely fine." Harley had grown more at ease talking to the Amazon Queen. Well, not that she'd been overawed or anything before. "Sleeping, but the poison's gone from her system."

The caduceus had been pretty amazing. She'd just dipped part of it in the poison, then it had glowed red…and a small red crystal had emerged. Crushed and added to a saline drip, and Kate had been healed. She'd been sleeping all the time, but it was proper sleep now, not a coma. And Harley had a feeling she'd be waking soon, so she'd brought her home.

Hippolyte nodded, relief on her face. "Well done. I had a feeling you'd manage – my adopted daughter wouldn't choose a weakling as her mate."

Harley laughed at that. "A weakling? Queenie, I gotta make it clear: I'm the one wears the pants in _this_ relationship."

"I'm…not entirely sure I get the reference, but I can tell that you're being impertinent. _Again._ " Hippolyte glared. "It occurs to me that when she's well, Kate should take you on a journey to Paradise Island. We have ways of dealing with insolent creatures like you."

"Hey, I'm game. Just gimme warning so I can pack right."

Hippolyte tried to maintain the glare, then shook her head. "I _would_ like to see Kate, when she can. Speak to her of it, when she wakes."

"You got it." Harley paused as she heard Kate stirring. "And I think that's gonna happen in a second…"

Kate's eyes flickered open, and she groaned. She tried to move, but she seemed to be covered in a great many layers. And to be as weak as a day-old giraffe.

"Hey, easy there Red," came a familiar voice.

Suddenly, a glass was at Kate's lips, and water – no, juice of some kind – filled her mouth. She drank greedily, and managed to open her eyes properly.

Harley was sitting over her, carefully holding the water to her. "Drink, Red. You gotta hydrate. And replace electrolytes."

Kate obeyed, draining the glass entirely. "What…what happened?" she asked.

"Ya got poisoned, Red. By that Kyle plant-bitch. You were out for a while, but your cute, smart and courageous girlfriend managed to get things sorted." Harley beamed proudly. "As usual."

Kate laughed weakly, then coughed. "Damn, I can barely move…" She peered down at the bed. "Because I seem to be covered in every blanket in the house. Is there any reason for this, Harley-girl?"

"Well, we gotta be sure that all the poison's out of you, Red. So ya gotta sweat."

"One of them seems to be the electric blanket…" Kate tried to rise. "I think I'm going to be boiled alive…"

Insistent hands forced her back down again. "Nuh-uh, Red. Doctor's orders. Ya gotta stay in bed for at least a week."

"Wha- a _week?_ What doctor?"

"Well, I _did_ go ta medical school." Harley looked at her sternly. "But whatever. You're not gettin' up, 'cept to go to the bathroom."

Kate glared. "Harley, I have things to do. Athene has duties…"

"We ain't the only game in town anymore, Red. We can let Robin-Hood, Barbie and that green guy with the broom handle lodged in his ass handle things for a while."

"But…"

"There's another reason ya gotta stay here."

"Why?"

"Because if ya don't, I'll get the Lasso an' tie you to the bed."

Kate looked at her. Despite her light tone, she could tell Harley was deadly serious. "This isn't fair," she said eventually.

"Neither was you nearly dyin', Kate," Harley said, folding her arms. "I know bein' a hero's dangerous, but there's smart risks and there's dumb risks. Lettin' you go back out there without proper rest would be a dumb risk. So even if ya hate me, I'm gonna make sure ya have time ta properly recover. Even if I haveta tie you to the bed and sit on you for the whole week. Because I can live with you hating me, but I can't live with you being hurt."

Kate paused, silent…then slowly nodded. "OK, Harley-girl," she said, smiling. "You win." She paused again, searching for words. "And…that's unbelievably sweet of you. In an utterly crazy way, but still, sweet." She took a breath. "I'm sorry I scared you. And I love you. Always remember that."

The smile that lit Harley's face in turn made Kate's heart leap, and blew away a lot of the cobwebby tiredness afflicting her brain. "Right back atcha, Red."

Harley rose. "So…hungry? I got chicken soup on the stove, figured it'd be a good start before giving you solid food."

"That's kind of you, but I don't think I could eat anything right now. I'm…" Kate considered. "Not feeling ill, but definitely touchy."

"OK. Well then, I guess we gotta go with the second part of Dr Harleen Quinzel's Recovery Programme."

Suddenly, Harley was slithering under the covers with Kate. Who was suddenly aware that her girlfriend wasn't wearing too much. "Oh? And what's the second part?"

"Well, Red, it involves shared body heat."

"Interesting…and how does that work?"

"It's really very simple, Red. First, we gotta get you naked…"


End file.
